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HELBECK   OF   BANNISDALE 

VOLUME   I. 


•The^)<^o 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 


BY 


MRS.    HUMPHRY   WARD 


.  .  .  metns  ille  .  .  .  Acberuntis  .  .  . 
Funditus  huniauam  qui  vitam  turbat  ab  imo 


IN   TWO   VOLUMES 
VOL.    I. 


Weill  ^ox]i 
THE    MACMH.LAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 

1899 

All  rights  reserved 


COPTKIGHT,  1898, 

bt  the  macmillan  company. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  May,  1898.     Reprinted  June,  August,  twice, 
September,  October,  November,  December,  1898;  March,  1899. 


Norhjooti  ^rfss 

J.  S.  Cushiiij;  &  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


To 
E.    DE    V. 

IN    MEMORIAM 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

BOOK    I .        1 

BOOK    [I .     183 

BOOK    in 279 


vii 


BOOK   I 


HELBECK   OF   BANNISDALE 
BOOK  I 

CHAPTER  I 

"I  MUST  be  turning  back.  A  dreary  day  for  any- 
one coming  fresh  to  these  parts !  " 

So  saying,  Mr.  Helbeck  stood  still  —  both  hands 
resting  on  his  thick  stick  —  while  his  gaze  slowly 
swept  the  straight  white  road  in  front  of  him  and  the 
landscape  to  either  side. 

Before  him  stretched  the  marsh  lands  of  the  Flent 
valley,  a  broad  alluvial  plain  brought  down  by  the 
rivers  Ment  and  Greet  on  their  way  to  the  estuary 
and  the  sea.  From  the  slight  rising  ground  on  which 
he  stood,  he  could  see  the  great  peat  mosses  about  the 
river-mouths,  marked  here  and  there  by  lines  of 
weather-beaten  trees,  or  by  more  solid  dots  of  black 
which  the  eye  of  the  inhabitant  knew  to  be  peat 
stacks.  Beyond  the  mosses  were  level  lines  of  grey- 
ish white,  where  the  looping  rivers  passed  into  the 
sea  —  lines  more  luminous  than  the  sky  at  this  par- 
ticular moment  of  a  damp  March  afternoon,  because  of 

VOL.   1.  — B  1 


2  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

some  otherwise  invisible  radiance,  which,  miles  away, 
seemed  to  be  shining  upon  the  water,  slipping  down 
to  it  from  behind  a  curtain  of  rainy  cloud. 

Nearer  by,  on  either  side  of  the  high  road  which  cut 
the  valley  from  east  to  west,  were  black  and  melan- 
choly fields,  half  reclaimed  from  the  peat  moss,  fields 
where  the  water  stood  in  the  furrows,  or  a  plough  driven 
deep  and  left,  showed  the  nature  of  the  heavy  water- 
logged earth,  and  the  farmer's  despair  of  dealing  with 
it,  till  the  drying  winds  should  come.  Some  of  it, 
however,  had  long  before  been  reclaimed  for  pasture, 
so  that  strips  of  sodden  green  broke  up,  here  and 
there,  the  long  stretches  of  purple  black.  In  the 
great  dykes  or  drains  to  which  the  pastures  were  due, 
the  water,  swollen  with  recent  rain,  could  be  seen 
hurrying  to  join  the  rivers  and  the  sea.  The  clouds 
overhead  hurried  like  the  dykes  and  the  streams.  A 
perpetual  procession  from  the  north-west  swept  inland 
from  the  sea,  pouring  from  the  dark  distance  of  the 
upper  valley,  and  blotting  out  the  mountains  that 
stood  around  its  head. 

A  desolate  scene,  on  this  wild  March  day;  yet  full 
of  a  sort  of  beauty,  even  so  far  as  the  mosslands 
were  concerned.  And  as  Alan  Helbeck's  glance  trav- 
elled along  the  ridge  to  his  right,  he  saw  it  gradually 
rising  from  the  marsh  in  slopes,  and  scars,  and 
wooded  fells,   a  medley  of  lovely  lines,  of  pastures 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  3 

and  dopses,  of  villages  clinging  to  the  lulls,  each  with 
its  church  tower  and  its  white  spreading  farms  —  a 
land  of  homely  charm  and  comfort,  gently  bounding 
the  marsh  below  it,  and  cut  off  by  the  seething  clouds 
in  the  north-west  from  the  mountains  towards  which 
it  climbed.  And  as  he  turned  homewards  with  the 
moss  country  behind  him,  the  hills  rose  and  fell  about 
him  in  soft  undulation  more  and  more  rich  in  wood, 
while  beside  him  roared  the  tumbling  Greet,  with  its 
flood- voice  —  a  voice  more  dear  and  familiar  to  Alan 
Helbeck  perhaps,  at  this  momei^t  of  his  life,  than  the 
voice  of  any  human  being. 

He  walked  fast  with  his  shoulders  thrown  back, 
a  remarkably  tall  man,  with  a  dark  head  and  short 
grizzled  beard.  He  held  himself  very  erect,  as  a 
soldier  holds  himself;  but  he  had  never  been  a  soldier. 

Once  in  his  rapid  course,  he  paused  to  look  at  his 
watch,  then  hurried  on,  thinking. 

"  She  stipulates  that  she  is  never  to  be  expected  to 
come  to  prayers,"  he  repeated  to  himself,  half  smil- 
ing. "  I  suppose  she  thinks  of  herself  as  representing 
her  father  —  in  a  nest  of  Papists.  Evidently  Augus- 
tina  has  no  chance  with  her  —  she  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  reign!  Well,  we  shall  let  her  'gang  her 
gait.'" 

His  mouth,  which  was  full  and  strongly  closed, 
took  a  slight  expression  of  contempt.     As  he  turned 


4  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

over  a  bridge,  and  then  into  his  own  gate  on  the  fur- 
ther side,  he  passed  an  old  labourer  who  was  scraping 
the  mud  from  the  road. 

"Have  you  seen  any  carriage  go  by  just  lately, 
Reuben?" 

"  ISToa — "  said  the  man.  "  Theer's  been  none  this  last 
hour  an  more  —  nobbut  carts,  an  t'  Whinthrupp  bus." 

Helbeck's  pace  slackened.  He  had  been  very  soli- 
tary all  day,  and  even  the  company  of  the  old  road- 
sweeper  was  welcome. 

"If  we  don't  get  some  drying  days  soon,  it'll  be 
bad  for  all  of  us,  won't  it,  Eeuben?" 

"  Aye,  it's  a  bit  clashy,"  said  the  man,  with  stolidity, 
stopping  to  spit  into  his  hands  a  moment,  before  re- 
suming his  work. 

The  mildness  of  the  adjective  brought  another  half- 
smile  to  Helbeck's  dark  face.  A  stranger  watching 
it  might  have  wondered,  indeed,  Avhether  it  could 
smile  with  any  fulness  or  spontaneity. 

"But  you  don't  see  any  good  in  grumbling  —  is 
tliat  it?" 

"  Noa  —  we'se  not  git  ony  profit  that  gate,  I  reckon," 
said  the  old  man,  laying  his  scraper  to  the  mud  once 
more. 

"  Well,  good-night  to  you.  I'm  expecting  my  sister 
to-night,  you  know,  my  sister  Mrs.  Fountain,  and  her 
stepdaughter." 


EELBECK  OF  BANXISDALE  5 

"  Eh?  "  said  Eeuben  slowly.  "  Then  yo'll  be  hevin 
cumpany,  fer  shure.  Good-neet  to  ye,  Misther  Hel- 
beck." 

.  But  there  was  no  great  cordiality  in  his  tone,  and 
he  touched  his  cap  carelessly,  without  any  sort  of 
unction.  The  man's  manner  expressed  familiarity  of 
long  habit,  but  little  else. 

Helbeck  turned  into  his  own  park.  The  road  that 
led  up  to  the  house  Avound  alongside  the  river, 
whereof  the  banks  had  suddenly  risen  into  a  craggy 
wildness.  All  recollection  of  the  marshland  was  left 
behind.  The  ground  mounted  on  either  side  of  the 
stream  towards  fell-tops,  of  which  the  distant  lines 
could  be  seen  dimly  here  and  there  behind  the  crowd- 
ing trees;  while,  at  some  turns  of  the  road,  where  the 
course  of  the  Greet  made  a  passage  for  the  eye,  one 
might  look  far  away  to  the  same  mingled  blackness  of 
cloud  and  scar  that  stood  round  the  head  of  the  estuary. 
Clearly  the  mountains  were  not  far  off ;  and  this  was  a 
border  country  between  their  ramparts  and  the  sea. 

The  light  of  the  March  evening  was  dying,  dying 
in  a  stormy  greyness  that  promised  more  rain  for  the 
morrow.  Yet  the  air  was  soft,  and  the  spring  made 
itself  felt.  In  some  sheltered  places  by  the  water, 
one  might  already  see  a  shimmer  of  buds ;  and  in  the 
grass  of  the  wild  untended  park,  daffodils  were  spring- 
ing.    Helbeck  was  conscious  of  it  all;  his  eye  and  ear 


6  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

were  on  the  watch  for  the  signs  of  growth,  and  for 
the  birds  that  haunted  the  river,  the  dipper  on  the 
stone,  the  grey  wagtail  slipping  to  its  new  nest  in  the 
bank,  the  golden-crested  wren,  or  dark-backed  creeper 
moving  among  the  thorns.  He  loved  such  things; 
though  with  a  silent  and  jealous  love  that  seemed  to 
imply  some  resentment  towards  other  things  and 
forces  in  his  life. 

As  he  walked,  the  manner  of  the  old  peasant  rankled 
a  little  in  his  memory.  For  it  implied,  if  not  disre- 
spect, at  least  a  complete  absence  of  all  that  the 
French  call  "consideration." 

"It's  strange  how  much  more  alone  I've  felt  in 
this  place  of  late  than  I  used  to  feel,"  was  Helbeck's 
reflection  upon  it,  at  last.  "  I  reckon  it's  since  I  sold 
the  Leasowes  land.     Or  is  it  perhaps " 

He  fell  into  a  reverie  marked  by  a  frowning  expres- 
sion, and  a  harsh  drawing  down  of  the  mouth.  But 
gradually  as  he  swung  along,  muttered  words  began 
to  escape  him,  and  his  hand  went  to  a  book  that  he 
carried  in  his  pocket.  — "  0  dust,  learn  of  Me  to  obey! 
Learn  of  Me,  0  earth  and  clay,  to  humble  thyself,  and 
to  cast  thyself  under  the  feet  of  all  men  for  the  love 
of  Me."  —  As  he  murmured  the  words,  which  soon 
became  inaudible,  his  aspect  cleared,  his  eyes  raised 
themselves  again  to  the  landscape,  and  became  once 
more  conscious  of  its  growth  and  life. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  7 

Presently  he  reached  a  gate  across  the  road,  where 
a  big  sheepdog  sprang  out  upon  him,  leaping  and 
barking  joyously.  Beyond  the  gates  rose  a  low  pile 
of  buildings,  standing  round  three  sides  of  a  yard. 
They  had  once  been  the  stables  of  the  Hall.  Kow 
they  were  put  to  farm  uses,  and  through  the  door  of 
what  had  formerly  been  a  coachhouse  with  a  coat  of 
arms  worked  in  white  pebbles  on  its  floor,  a  woman 
could  be  seen  milking.     Helbeck  looked  in  upon  her. 

"No  carriage  gone  by  yet,  Mrs.  Tyson?" 

" Noa,  sir,"  said  the  woman.  "  But  I'll  mebbe  prop 
t'  gate  open,  for  it's  aboot  time."  And  she  put  down 
her  pail. 

"Don't  move!"  said  Helbeck  hastily.  "I'll  do  it 
myself." 

The  woman,  as  she  milked,  watched  him  propping 
the  ruinous  gate  with  a  stone ;  her  expression  all  the 
time  friendly  and  attentive.  His  own  people,  women 
especially,  somehow  always  gave  him  this  attention. 

Helbeck  hurried  forward  over  a  road,  once  stately, 
and  now  badly  worn  and  ill-mended.  The  trees, 
mostly  oaks  of  long  growth,  which  had  accompanied 
him  since  the  entrance  of  the  park,  thickened  to  a 
close  wood  around  till  of  a  sudden  he  emerged  from 
them,  and  there,  across  a  wide  space,  rose  a  grey 
gabled  house,  sharp  against  a  hillside,  with  a  rainy 
evening  light  full  upon  it. 


8  HELBECK  OF  BANXISDALE 

It  was  an  old  and  weather-beaten  house,  of  a  singu- 
lar character  and  dignity ;  yet  not  large.  It  was  built 
of  grey  stone,  covered  with  a  rough-cast,  so  tempered 
by  age  to  the  colour  and  surface  of  the  stone,  that  the 
many  patches  where  it  had  dropped  away  produced 
hardly  any  disfiguring  effect.  The  rugged  "pele" 
tower,  origin  and  source  of  all  the  rest,  was  now 
grouped  with  the  gables  and  projections,  the  broad 
casemented  windows,  and  deep  doorways  of  a  Tudor 
manor-house.  But  the  whole  structure  seemed  still 
to  lean  upon  and  draw  towards  the  tower;  and  it  was 
the  tower  which  gave  accent  to  a  general  expression 
of  austerity,  depending  perhaps  on  the  plain  sim- 
plicity of  all  the  approaches  and  immediate  neighbour- 
hood of  the  house.  For  in  front  of  it  were  neither 
flowers  nor  shrubs  —  only  wide  stretches  of  plain  turf 
and  gravel;  while  behind  it,  beyond  some  thin  inter- 
vening trees,  rose  a  grey  limestone  fell,  into  which 
the  house  seemed  to  withdraw  itself,  as  into  the  rock, 
"  whence  it  was  hewn." 

There  were  some  lights  in  the  old  windows,  and  the 
heavy  outer  door  was  open.  Helbeck  mounted  the 
steps  and  stood,  watch  in  hand,  at  the  top  of  them, 
looking  down  the  avenue  he  had  just  walked  through. 
And  very  soon,  in  spite  of  the  roar  of  the  river,  his 
ear  distinguished  the  wheels  he  was  listening  for. 
While  they  approached,  he  could  not  keep  himself 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  9 

still,  but  luoved  restlessly  about  tlie  little  stone  plat- 
form. He  had  been  solitary  for  many  years,  and  had 
loved  his  solitude. 

"They're  just  coomin',  sir,"  said  the  voice  of  his 
old  housekeeper,  as  she  threw  open  an  inner  door 
behind  him,  letting  a  glow  of  fire  and  candles  stream 
out  into  the  twilight.  Helbeck  meanwhile  caught 
sight  for  an  instant  of  a  girl's  pale  face  at  the  window 
of  the  approaching  carriage  —  a  face  thrust  forward 
eagerly,  to  gaze  at  the  pele  tower. 

The  horses  stopped,  and  out  sprang  the  girl. 

"Wait  a  moment  —  let  me  help  you,  Augustina. 
How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Helbeck?  Don't  touch  my  dog, 
please —  she  doesn't  like  men.     Fricka,  be  quiet !  " 

For  the  little  black  spitz  she  held  in  a  chain  had 
begun  to  growl  and  bark  furiously  at  the  first  sight  of 
Helbeck,  to  the  evident  anger  of  the  old  housekeeper, 
who  looked  at  the  dog  sourly  as  she  went  forward  to 
take  some  bags  and  rugs  from  her  master.  Helbeck, 
meanwhile,  and  the  young  girl  helped  another  lady  to 
alight.  She  came  out  slowly  with  the  precautions  of 
an  invalid,  and  Helbeck  gave  her  his  arm. 

At  the  top  of  the  steps  she  turned  and  looked  round 
her. 

"Oh,  Alan!"  she  said,  "it  is  so  long " 

Her  lips  trembled,  and  her  head  shook  oddly.  She 
was  a  short  woman,  with  a  thin  plaintive  face  and  a 


10  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

nervous  jerk  of  the  head,  always  very  marked  at  a 
moment  of  agitation.  As  he  noticed  it,  Helbeck  felt 
times  long  past  rush  back  upon  him.  He  laid  his 
hand  over  hers,  and  tried  to  say  something;  but  his 
shyness  oppressed  him.  When  he  had  led  her  into 
the  broad  hall,  with  its  firelight  and  stuccoed  roof, 
she  said,  turning  round  with  the  same  bewildered 
air  — 

"  You  saw  Laura?    You  have  never  seen  her  before ! " 

"Oh  yes;  we  shook  hands,  Augustina,"  said  a 
young  voice.  "Will  Mr.  Helbeck  please  help  me 
with  these  things?" 

She  was  laden  with  shawls  and  packages,  and  Hel- 
beck hastily  went  to  her  aid.  In  the  emotion  of 
bringing  his  sister  back  into  the  old  house,  which  she 
had  left  fifteen  years  before,  when  he  himself  was  a 
lad  of  two-and-twenty,  he  had  forgotten  her  step- 
daughter. 

But  Miss  Fountain  did  not  intend  to  be  forgotten. 
She  made  him  relieve  her  of  all  burdens,  and  then 
argue  an  overcharge  with  the  flyman.  And  at  last, 
when  all  the  luggage  was  in  and  the  fly  was  driving 
off,  she  mounted  the  steps  deliberately,  looking  about 
her  all  the  time,  but  principally  at  the  house.  The 
eyes  of  the  housekeeper,  who  with  Mr.  Helbeck  was 
standing  in  the  entrance  awaiting  her,  surveyed  both 
dog  and  mistress  with  equal  disapproval. 


TIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  11 

But  the  dusk  was  fast  passing  into  darkness,  and 
it  was  not  till  the  girl  came  into  the  brightness  of  the 
hall,  wliere  her  stepmother  was  already  sitting  tired 
and  drooping  on  a  settle  near  the  great  wood  fire,  that 
Helbeck  saw  her  plainly. 

She  was  very  small  and  slight,  and  her  hair  made 
a  spot  of  pale  gold  against  the  oak  panelling  of  the 
walls.  Helbeck  noticed  the  slenderness  of  her  arms, 
and  the  prettiness  of  her  little  white  neck,  then  the 
freedom  of  her  quick  gesture  as  she  went  up  to  the 
elder  lady  and  with  a  certain  peremptoriness  began  to 
loosen  her  cloak. 

"  Augustina  ought  to  go  to  bed  directly,"  she  said, 
looking  at  Helbeck.  "  The  journey  tired  her  dread- 
fully." 

"Mrs.  Fountain's  room  is  quite  ready,"  said  the 
housekeeper,  holding  herself  stiffly  behind  her  master. 
She  was  a  woman  of  middle  age,  with  a  pinkish  face, 
framed  between  two  tiers  of  short  grey  curls. 

Laura's  eye  ran  over  her. 

"  You  don't  like  our  coming! "  she  said  to  herself. 
Then  to  Helbeck  — 

"May  I  take  her  up  at  once?  I  will  unpack,  and 
put  her  comfortable.  Then  she  ought  to  have  some 
food.  She  has  had  nothing  to-day  but  some  tea  at 
Lancaster." 

"Mrs.  Fountain  looked  up  at  the  girl  with  feeble 


12  HELBECK  OF  BAJSFNISDALE 

acquiescence,  as  though  depending  on  her  entirely. 
Helbeck  glanced  from  his  pale  sister  to  the  house- 
keeper in  some  perplexity. 

"What  will  you  have?"  he  said  nervously  to  Miss 
Fountain.  "  Dinner,  I  think,  was  to  be  at  a  quarter  to 
eight." 

"That  was  the  time  I  was  ordered,  sir,"  said  Mrs. 
Denton. 

"  Can't  it  be  earlier?  "   asked  the  girl  impetuously. 

Mrs.  Denton  did  not  reply,  but  her  shoulders  grew 
visibly  rigid. 

"Do  what  you  can  for  us,  Denton,"  said  her  master 
hastily,  and  she  went  away.  Helbeck  bent  kindly 
over  his  sister. 

"  You  know  what  a  small  establishment  we  have, 
Augustina.  Mrs.  Denton,  a  rough  girl,  and  a  boy  — 
that's  all.  I  do  trust  they  will  be  able  to  make  you 
comfortable." 

"Oil,  let  me  come  down,  when  I  have  unpacked, 
and  help  cook,"  said  Miss  Fountain  brightly.  "I 
can  do  anything  of  that  sort." 

Helbeck  smiled  for  the  first  time.  "I  am  afraid 
Mrs.  Denton  wouldn't  take  it  kindly.  She  rules  us 
all  in  this  old  place." 

"I  dare  say,"  said  the  girl  quietly.  "It's  fish,  of 
course?"  she  added,  looking  down  at  her  stejjmother, 
and  speaking  in  a  meditative  voice. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  13 

"It's  a  Friday's  dinner,"  said  Helbeck,  flushing 
suddenly,  and  looking  at  his  sister,  "except  for  Miss 
Fountain.     I  supposed " 

Mrs.  Fountain  rose  in  some  agitation  and  threw  him 
a  piteous  look. 

"Of  course  3^ou  did,  Alan  —  of  course  you  did. 
But  the  doctor  at  Folkestone  —  he  was  a  Catholic  —  I 
took  such  care  about  that!  —  told  me  I  mustn't  fast. 
And  Laura  is  always  worrying  me.  But  indeed  I 
didn't  want  to  be  dispensed!  — not  yet!  " 

Laura  said  nothing;  nor  did  Helbeck.  There  was  a 
certain  embarrassment  in  the  looks  of  both,  as  though 
there  was  more  in  Mrs.  Fountain's  Avords  than  ap- 
peared. Then  the  girl,  holding  herself  erect  and 
rather  defiant,  drew  her  stepmother's  arm  in  hers,  and 
turned  to  Helbeck. 

"Will  you  please  show  us  the  way  up?" 

Helbeck  took  a  small  hand-lamp  and  led  the  way, 
bidding  the  newcomers  beware  of  the  slipperiness  of 
the  old  polished  boards.  Mrs.  Fountain  walked  with 
caution,  clinging  to  her  stepdaughter.  At  the  foot  of 
the  staircase  she  stopped,  and  looked  upward. 

"  Alan,  I  don't  see  much  change !  " 

He  turned  back,  the  light  shining  on  his  fine  harsh 
face  and  grizzled  hair. 

"Don't  you?  But  it  is  greatly  changed,  Augustina. 
We  have  shut  up  half  of  it." 


14  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Mrs.  Fountain  siglied  deeply  and  moved  on.  Laura, 
as  she  mounted  the  stairs,  looked  back  at  the  old  hall, 
its  ceiling  of  creamy  stucco,  its  panelled  walls,  and 
below,  the  great  bare  floor  of  shining  oak  with  hardly 
any  furniture  upon  it  —  a  strip  of  old  carpet,  a  heavy 
oak  table,  and  a  few  battered  chairs  at  long  intervals 
against  the  panelling.  But  the  big  fire  of  logs  piled 
upon  the  hearth  filled  it  all  with  cheerful  light,  and 
under  her  indifferent  manner,  the  girl's  sense  secretly 
thrilled  with  pleasure.  She  had  heard  much  of  "poor 
Alan's  "  poverty.  Poverty!  As  far  as  his  house  was 
concerned,  at  any  rate,  it  seemed  to  her  of  a  very  toler- 
able sort. 

In  a  few  minutes  Helbeck  came  downstairs  again, 
and  stood  absently  before  the  fire  on  the  hearth. 
After  a  while,  he  sat  down  beside  it  in  his  accustomed 
chair  —  a  carved  chair  of  black  Westmoreland  oak  — 
and  began  to  read  from  the  book  which  he  had  been 
carrying  in  his  pocket  out  of  doors.  He  read  with 
his  head  bent  closely  over  the  pages,  because  of  short 
sight;  and,  as  a  rule,  reading  absorbed  him  so  com- 
pletely that  he  was  conscious  of  nothing  external 
while  it  lasted.  To-night,  however,  he  several  times 
looked  up  to  listen  to  the  sounds  overhead,  unwonted 
sounds  in  this  house,  over  which,  as  it  often  seemed 
to  him,  a  quiet  of  centuries  had  settled  down,  like  a 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  15 

fine  dust  or  deposit,  muffling  all  its  steps  and  voices. 
But  there  was  nothing  muffled  in  the  voice  overhead 
which  he  caught  every  now  and  then,  through  an  open 
door,  escaping,  eager  and  alive,  into  the  silence;  or 
in  the  occasional  sharp  bark  of  the  dog. 

*' Horrid  little  wretch !  "  thought  Helbeck.  "Den- 
ton will  loathe  it.  Augustina  should  really  have 
warned  me.  What  shall  we  do  if  she  and  Denton 
don't  get  on?  It  will  never  answer  if  she  tries 
meddling  in  the  kitchen  —  I  must  tell  her. " 

Presently,  however,  his  inner  anxieties  grew  upon 
him  so  much  that  his  book  fell  on  his  knee,  and  he 
lost  himself  in  a  multitude  of  small  scruples  and  tor- 
ments, such  as  beset  all  persons  who  live  alone.  "Were 
all  his  days  noAv  to  be  made  difficult,  because  he  had 
followed  his  conscience,  and  asked  his  widowed  sister 
to  come  and  live  with  him? 

"Augustina  and  I  could  have  done  well  enough. 
But  this  girl  —  well,  we  must  put  up  with  it  —  we 
must,  Bruno ! " 

He  laid  his  hand  as  he  spoke  on  the  neck  of  a  collie 
that  had  just  lounged  into  the  hall,  and  come  to  lay 
its  nose  upon  his  master's  knee.  Suddenly  a  bark 
from  overhead  made  the  dog  start  back  and  prick  its 
ears. 

"Come  here,  Bruno  —  be  quiet.  You're  to  treat 
that  little  brute  with  proper  contempt  —  do  you  hear? 


16  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Listen  to  all  tliat  scuffling  and  talking  upstairs — ■ 
that's  the  new  young  woman  getting  her  way  with 
old  Denton.  Well,  it  won't  do  Denton  any  harm. 
We're  put  upon  sometimes,  too,  aren't  we?" 

And  he  caressed  the  dog,  his  haughty  face  alive 
with  something  half  bitter,  half  humorous. 

At  that  moment  the  old  clock  in  the  hall  struck  a 
quarter  past  seven.     Helbeck  sprang  up. 

"Am  I  to  dress?"  he  said  to  himself  in  some  per- 
plexity. 

He  considered  for  a  moment  or  two,  looking  at  his 
shabby  serge  suit,  then  sat  down  again  resolutely. 

"No!  She'll  have  to  live  our  life.  Besides,  I 
don't  know  what  Denton  would  think." 

And  he  lay  back  in  his  chair,  recalling  with  some 
amusement  the  criticisms  of  his  housekeeper  upon  a 
young  Catholic  friend  of  his  who  —  rare  event  —  had 
spent  a  fishing  week  with  him  in  the  autumn,  and 
had  startled  the  old  house  and  its  inmates  with  his 
frequent  changes  of  raiment.  "It's  yan  set  o'  cloas 
for  breakfast,  an  anudther  for  fish  in,  an  anudther  for 
ridin,  an  yan  for  when  he  cooms  in,  an  a  fine  suit  for 
dinner  —  an  anudther  for  smoakin  —  A  should  think 
he  mut  be  oftener  naked  nor  donned!  "  Denton  had 
said  in  her  grim  Westmoreland,  and  Helbeck  had 
often  chuckled  over  the  remark. 

An  hour  later,  half  an  hour  after  the  usual  time, 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  17 

Helbeck,  all  the  traces  of  his  muddy  walk  removed, 
and  garbed  with  scrupulous  neatness  in  the  old  black 
coat  and  black  tie  he  always  wore  of  an  evening,  was 
sitting  opposite  to  Miss  Fountain  at  supper. 

"You  got  everything  you  wanted  for  Augustina,  I 
hope?"  he  said  to  her  shyly  as  they  sat  down.  He 
had  awaited  her  in  the  dining-room  itself,  so  as  to 
avoid  the  awkwardness  of  taking  her  in.  It  was 
some  years  since  a  woman  had  stayed  under  his  roof, 
or  since  he  had  been  a  guest  in  the  same  house  with 
women. 

"Oh  yes!"  said  Miss  Fountain.  But  she  threw  a 
sly  swift  glance  towards  Mrs.  Denton,  who  was  just 
coming  into  the  room  with  some  cofEee,  then  com- 
pressed her  lips  and  studied  her  plate.  Helbeck 
detected  the  glance,  and  saw  too  that  Mrs.  Denton's 
pink  face  was  flushed,  and  her  manner  discomposed. 

"The  coffee's  noa  good,"  she  said  abruptly,  as  she 
put  it  down;  "I  couldn't  keep  to  't." 

"No,  I'm  afraid  we  disturbed  Mrs.  Denton  dread- 
fully," said  Miss  Fountain,  shrugging  her  shoulders. 
"  We  got  her  to  bring  up  all  sorts  of  things  for  Augus- 
tina. She  was  dreadfully  tired  —  I  thought  she  would 
faint.  The  doctor  scolded  me  before  we  left,  about 
letting  her  go  without  food.  Shall  I  give  you  some 
fish,  Mr.  Helbeck?" 

For,  to  her  astonishment,  the  fish  even  —  a  very 

VOL.  I.  —  c 


18  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

small  portion  — was  placed  before  herself,  side  by 
side  with  a  few  fragments  of  cold  chicken;  and  she 
looked  in  vain  for  a  second  plate. 

As  she  glanced  across  the  table,  she  caught  a  mo- 
mentary shade  of  embarrassment  in  Helbeck's  face. 

"No,  thank  you,"  he  said.     "I  am  provided." 

His  provision  seemed  to  be  coffee  and  bread  and 
butter.  She  raised  her  eyebrows  involuntarily,  but 
said  nothing,  and  he  presently  busied  himself  in 
bringing  her  vegetables  and  wine,  Mrs.  Denton  having 
left  the  room. 

"I  trust  you  Avill  make  a  good  meal,"  he  said 
gravely,  as  he  waited  upon  her.  "You  have  had  a 
long  day." 

"Oh,  yes!  "  said  Miss  Fountain  impetuously,  "and 
please  don't  ever  make  any  difference  for  me  on  Fri- 

m 

days.     It  doesn't  matter  to  me  in  the  least  what  1 
eat." 

Helbeck  offered  no  reply.  Conversation  between 
them  indeed  did  not  flow  very  readily.  They  talked 
a  little  about  the  journey  from  London;  and  Laura 
asked  a  few  questions  about  the  house.  She  was, 
indeed,  studying  the  room  in  which  they  sat,  and  her 
Host  himself,  all  the  time.  "He  may  be  a  saint,"  she 
thought,  "  but  I  am  sure  he  knows  all  the  time  there 
are  very  few  saints  of  such  an  old  family !  His  head's 
splendid  —  so  dark  and  fine  —  with  the  great  waves 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  19 

of  grey-black  hair  —  and  tlie  long  features  and  the 
pointed  chin.  He's  immensely  tall  too  —  six  feet 
two  at  least  —  taller  than  father.  He  looks  hard  and 
bigoted.  I  suppose  most  people  would  be  afraid  of 
him  —  I'm  not!  " 

And  as  though  to  prove  even  to  herself  she  was 
not,  she  carried  on  a  rattle  of  questions.  How  old 
was  the  tower?  How  old  was  the  room  in  which  they 
were  sitting?  She  looked  round  it  with  ignorant, 
girlish  eyes. 

He  pointed  her  to  the  date  on  the  carved  mantel- 
piece — 1583. 

"That  is  a  very  important  date  for  us,"  he  began, 
then  checked  himself. 

"Why?" 

He  seemed  to  find  a  difficulty  in  going  on,  but  at 
last  he  said : 

"The  man  who  put  up  that  chimney-piece  Avas 
hanged  at  Manchester  later  in  the  same  year." 

"Why?— what  for?" 

He  suddenly  noticed  the  delicacy  of  her  tiny  wrist 
as  her  hand  paused  at  the  edge  of  her  plate,  and  the 
brilliance  of  her  eyes  —  large  and  greenish-grey,  with 
a  marked  black  line  round  the  iris.  The  very  per- 
ception perhaps  made  his  answer  more  cold  and 
measured. 

"He  was  a  Catholic  recusant,  under  Elizabeth.     He 


20  HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

had  harboured  a  priest,  and  he  and  the  priest  and  a 
friend  suffered  death  for  it  together  at  Manchester. 
Afterwards  their  heads  were  fixed  on  the  outside  of 
Manchester  parish  church." 

"How  horrible!"  said  Miss  Fountain,  frowning. 
"Do  you  know  anything  more  about  him?" 

"  Yes,  we  have  letters " 

But  he  would  say  no  more,  and  the  subject  dropped. 
Not  to  let  the  conversation  also  come  to  an  end,  he 
pointed  to  some  old  gilded  leather  which  covered  one 
side  of  the  room,  while  the  other  three  walls  were 
oak-panelled  from  ceiling  to  floor. 

"It  is  very  dim  and  dingy  now,"  said  Helbeck; 
"but  when  it  was  fresh,  it  was  the  wonder  of  the 
place.  The  room  got  the  name  of  Paradise  from  it. 
There  are  many  mentions  of  it  in  the  old  letters." 

"Who  put  it  up?" 

"The  brother  of  the  martyr  —  twenty  years  later." 

" The  martyr!  "  she  thought,  half  scornfully.  "No 
doubt  he  is  as  proud  of  that  as  of  his  twenty  genera- 
tions ! " 

He  told  her  a  few  more  antiquarian  facts  about  the 
room,  and  its  builders,  she  meanwhile  looking  in  some 
perplexity  from  the  rich  embossments  of  the  ceiling 
with  its  Tudor  roses  and  crowns,  from  the  stately 
mantelpiece  and  canopied  doors,  to  the  few  pieces  of 
shabby  modern  furniture  Avliich  disfigured  the  room, 


HELBECE  OF  BAyXISDALE  21 

tlie  half-dozeu  cane  chairs,  the  ugly  lodging-house 
carpet  and  sideboard.  What  had  become  of  the  old 
furnishings?  How  could  they  have  disappeared  so 
utterly? 

Helbeck,  however,  did  not  enlighten  her.  He  talked 
indeed  with  no  freedom,  merely  to  pass  the  time. 

She  perfectly  recognised  that  he  was  not  at  ease 
with  her,  and  she  hurried  her  meal,  in  spite  of  her 
very  frank  hunger,  that  she  might  set  him  free.  But, 
as  she  was  putting  down  her  coffee-cup  for  the  last 
time,  she  suddenly  said : 

"It's  a  very  good  air  here,  isn't  it,  Mr.  Helbeck?" 

"I  believe  so,"  he  replied,  in  some  surprise.  "It's 
a  mixture  of  the  sea  and  the  mountains.  Everybody 
here  —  most  of  the  poor  people  —  live  to  a  great  age." 

"That's  all  right!  Then  Augustina  will  soon  get 
strong  here.  She  can't  do  without  me  yet  —  but  j^ou 
know,  of  course  —  I  have  decided  —  about  myself?" 

Somehow,  as  she  looked  across  to  her  host,  her 
little  figure,  in  its  plain  white  dress  and  black  ribbons, 
expressed  a  curious  tension.  "She  wants  to  make 
it  very  plain  to  me,"  thought  Helbeck,  "that  if  she 
comes  here  as  my  guest,  it  is  only  as  a  favour,  to  look 
after  my  sister." 

Aloud  he  said : 

"  Augustina  told  me  she  could  not  hope  to  keep  you 
for  long." 


22  BELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

"  No !  "  said  the  girl  sharply.  *'  No !  I  must  take 
up  a  profession.  I  have  a  little  money,  you  know, 
from  papa.  I  shall  go  to  Cambridge,  or  to  London, 
perhaps  to  live  with  a  friend.  Oh!  you  darling!  — 
you  darling ! " 

Helbeck  opened  his  eyes  in  amazement.  Miss 
Fountain  had  sprung  from  her  seat,  and  thrown  her- 
self on  her  knees  beside  his  old  collie  Bruno.  Her 
arms  were  round  the  dog's  neck,  and  she  was  pressing 
her  cheek  against  his  brown  nose.  Perhaps  she 
caught  her  host's  look  of  astonishment,  for  she  rose  at 
once  in  a  flush  of  some  feeling  she  tried  to  put  down, 
and  said,  still  holding  the  dog's  head  against  her  dress : 

"I  didn't  know  you  had  a  dog  like  this.  It's  so 
like  ours  —  you  see  —  like  papa's.  I  had  to  give 
ours  away  when  we  left  Folkestone.  You  dear,  dear 
thing ! "  —  (the  caressing  intensity  in  the  girl's  young 
voice  made  Helbeck  shrink  and  turn  away)  —  "  now 
you  won't  kill  my  Fricka,  will  you?  She's  curled 
up,  such  a"  delicious  black  ball,  on  my  bed;  you 
couldn't — you  couldn't  have  the  heart!  I'll  take  you 
up  and  introduce  you  —  I'll  do  everything  proper !  " 

The  dog  looked  up  at  her,  with  its  soft,  quiet 
eyes,  as  though  it  weighed  her  pleadings. 

"There,"  she  said  triumphantly.  "It's  all  right 
—  he  winked.  Come  along,  my  dear,  and  let's  make 
real  friends." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  23 

And  she  led  the  dog  into  the  hall,  Helbeck  cere- 
moniously opening  the  door  for  her. 

She  sat  herself  down  in  the  oak  settle  beside  the 
hall  fire,  where  for  some  minutes  she  occupied  her- 
self entirely  with  the  dog,  talking  a  sort  of  baby 
language  to  him  that  left  Helbeck  absolutely  dumb. 
When  she  raised  her  head,  she  flung,  dartlike, 
another  question  at  her  host. 

"  Have  you  many  neighbours,  Mr.  Helbeck  ?  " 

Her  voice  startled  his  look  away  from  her. 

"Not  many,"  he  said,  hesitating.  "And  I  know 
little  of  those  there  are." 

"  Indeed !     Don't  you  like  —  society  ?  " 

He  laughed  with  some  embarrassment.  "I  don't 
get  much  of  it,"  he  said  simply. 

"  Don't  you  ?  What  a  pity  !  —  isn't  it,  Bruno  ?  I 
like  society  dreadfully,  —  dances,  theatres,  parties, — 
all  sorts  of  things.     Or  I  did  —  once." 

She  paused  and  stared  at  Helbeck.  He  did  not 
speak,  however.  She  sat  up  very  straight  and  pushed 
the  dog  from  her.  "By  the  way,"  she  said,  in  a 
shrill  voice,  "there  are  my  cousins,  the  Masons. 
How  far  are  they  ? " 

"  About  seven  miles." 

"  Quite  up  in  the  moimtains,  isn't  it  ?  " 

Hell)eck  assented. 

"  Oh !    I    shall   go   there   at   once,    I   shall   go   to- 


24  EEL  BECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

morrow,"  said  the  girl,  Avith  emphasis,  resting  her 
small  chill  lightly  oii  the  head  of  the  dog,  while 
she  fixed  her  eyes  —  her  hostile  eyes  —  upon  her 
host. 

Helbeck  made  no  answer.  He  went  to  fetch  an- 
other log  for  the  fire. 

"Why  doesn't  he  say  something  about  them?" 
she  thought  angrily.  "Why  doesn't  he  say  some- 
thing about  papa  ?  —  about  his  illness  ?  —  ask  me 
any  questions  ?  He  may  have  hated  him,  but  it 
would  be  only  decent.  He  is  a  very  grand,  impos- 
ing person,  I  suppose,  with  his  melancholy  airs,  and 
his  family.  Papa  was  worth  a  hundred  of  him ! 
Oh !  past  a  quarter  to  ten  ?  Time  to  go,  and  let 
him  have  his  prayers  to  himself.  Augustina  told 
me  ten." 

She  sprang  up,  and  stifl&y  held  out  her  hand. 

"Good-night,  Mr.  Helbeck.  I  ought  to  go  to  Au- 
gustina and  settle  her  for  the  night.  To-morrow  I 
should  like  to  tell  you  what  the  doctor  said  about 
her;  she  is  not  strong  at  all.  What  time  do  you 
breakfast  ?  " 

"  Half-past  eight.     But,  of  course " 

"  Oh,  no !  of  course  Augustina  won't  come  down ! 
I  will  carry  her  up  her  tray  myself.     Good-night." 

Helbeck  touched  her  hand.  But  as  she  turned 
away,  he  followed  her  a  few  steps  irresolutely,  and 


BELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  25 

then  said :  •'  ]\Iiss  Fountain,"  —  she  looked  round  in 
surprise,  —  "I  shoukl  like  you  to  understand  that 
everything  that  can  be  done  in  this  poor  house  for 
my  sister's  comfort,  and  yours,  I  should  wish  done. 
My  resources  are  not  great,  but  my  will  is  good." 

He  raised  his  eyelids,  and  she  saw  the  eyes  be- 
neath, full,  for  the  first  time,  —  eyes  grey  like  her 
own,  but  far  darker  and  profounder.  She  felt  a 
momentary  flutter,  perhaps  of  compunction.  Then 
she  thanked  him  and  went  her  way. 

When  she  had  made  her  stepmother  comfortable 
for  the  night,  Laura  Fountain  went  back  to  her 
room,  shielding  her  candle  with  difficulty  from  the 
gusts  that  seemed  to  tear  along  the  dark  passages 
of  the  old  house.  The  March  rawness  made  her 
shiver,  and  she  looked  shrinkingly  into  the  gloom 
before  her,  as  she  paused  outside  her  own  door. 
There,  at  the  end  of  the  passage,  lay  the  old 
tower;  so  Mrs.  Denton  had  told  her.  The  thought 
of  all  the  locked  and  empty  rooms  in  it,  —  dark, 
cold  spaces,  —  haunted  perhaps  by  strange  sounds 
and  presences  of  the  past,  seemed  to  let  loose  upon 
her  all  at  once  a  little  whirlwind  of  fear.  She 
hurried  into  her  room,  and  was  just  setting  down 
her  candle  before  turning  to  lock  her  door,  when  a 
sound  from  the  dist;iut   ball  caiiglit  her  ear. 


26  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

A  deep  monotonous  sound,  rising  and  falling  at 
regular  intervals,  Mr.  Helbeck  reading  prayers, 
with  the  two  maids,  who  represented  the  only 
service  of  the  house. 

Laura  lingered  with  her  hand  on  tlie  door.  In 
the  silence  of  the  ancient  house,  there  was  some- 
thing touching  in  the  sound,  a  kind  of  appeal. 
But  it  was  an  appeal  which,  in  the  girl's  mind, 
passed  instantly  into  reaction.  She  locked  the 
door,  and  turned  away,  breathing  fast  as  though 
under  some  excitement. 

The  tears,  long  held  down,  were  rising,  and  the 
room,  where  a  large  wood  fire  was  burning,  —  wood 
was  the  only  provision  of  which  there  was  a  plenty 
at  Bannisdale,  —  seemed  to  her  suddenly  stifling. 
She  went  to  the  casement  window  and  threw  it 
open.  A  rush  of  mild  wind  came  through,  and 
with  it,  the  roar  of  the  swollen  river. 

The  girl  leant  forward,  bathing  her  hot  face  in 
the  wild  air.  There  was  a  dark  mist  of  trees  be- 
low her,  trees  tossed  by  the  wind;  then,  far  down, 
a  ray  of  moonlight  on  water;  beyond,  a  fell-side, 
clear  a  moment  beneath  a  sky  of  sweeping  cloud; 
and  last  of  all,  highest  of  all,  amid  the  clouds,  a 
dim  radiance,  intermittent  and  yet  steady,  like  the 
radiance  of  moonlit  snow. 

A  strange  nobility  and  freedom  breathed  from  the 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  27 

wide  scene ;  from  its  mere  deptli  below  her ;  from 
the  spacious  curve  of  the  river,  the  mountains  half 
shown,  half  hidden,  the  great  race  of  the  clouds, 
the  fresh  beating  of  the  wind.  The  north  spoke  to 
her,  and  the  mountains.  It  was  like  the  rush  of 
something  passionate  and  straining  through  her  girl- 
ish sense,  intensifying  all  that  was  already  there. 
What  was  this  thirst,  this  yearning,  this  physical 
anguish  of  pity  that  crept  back  upon  her  in  all  the 
pauses  of  the  day  and  night  ? 

It  was  nine  months  since  she  had  lost  her  father, 
but  all  the  scenes  of  his  last  days  were  still  so  clear 
to  her  that  it  seemed  to  her  often  sheer  incredibility 
that  the  room,  the  bed,  the  helpless  form,  the  noise 
of  the  breathing,  the  clink  of  the  medicine  glasses, 
the  tread  of  the  doctor,  the  gasping  words  of  the 
patient,  were  all  alike  fragments  and  phantoms  of 
the  past,  —  that  the  house  was  empty,  the  bed  sold, 
the  patient  gone.  Oh !  the  clinging  of  the  thin  hand 
round  her  own,  the  piteousness  of  suffering  —  of  fail- 
ure !  Poor,  poor  papa !  —  he  would  not  say,  even  to 
comfort  her,  that  they  would  meet  again.  He  had 
not  believed  it,  and  so  she  must  not. 

No,  and  she  would  not !  She  raised  her  head 
fiercely  and  dried  her  tears.  Only,  why  was  she 
here,  in  the  house  of  a  man  who  had  never  spoken  to 
her  father  —  his  brother-in-law  —  for  thirteen  years; 


28  HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

who  had  made  his  sister  feel  that  her  marriage  had 
been  a  disgrace;  who  was  all  the  time,  no  doubt, 
cherishing  snch  thoughts  in  that  black,  proud  head 
of  his,  while  she,  her  father's  daughter,  was  sitting 
opposite  to  him  ? 

"  How   am    I    ever    going    to    bear  it  —  all    these 
months  ?  "  she  asked  herself. 


CHAPTEE  II 

But  the  causes  which  had  brought  Laura  Foun- 
tain to  Bannisdale  were  very  simple.  It  had  all 
come  about  in  the  most  natural  inevitable  way. 

When  Laura  was  eight  years  old  —  nearly  thirteen 
years  before  this  date  —  her  father,  then  a  widower 
with  one  child,  had  fallen  in  with  and  married  Alan 
Helbeck's  sister.  At  the  time  of  their  first  meeting 
with  the  little  Catholic  spinster,  Stephen  Fountain 
and  his  child  were  spending  part  of  the  Cambridge 
vacation  at  a  village  on  the  Cumberland  coast  where 
a  fine  air  could  be  combined  with  cheap  lodgings. 
Fountain  himself  was  from  the  North  Country.  His 
grandfather  had  been  a  small  Lancashire  yeoman, 
and  Stephen  Fountain  had  an  inbred  liking  for  the 
fells,  the  farmhouses,  and  even  the  rain  of  his  native 
district.  Before  descending  to  the  sea,  he  and  liis 
child  had  spent  a  couple  of  days  with  his  cousin  by 
marriage,  James  Mason,  in  tlio  lonely  stone  house 
among  the  hills,  Avhich  had  belonged  to  the  family 
since  the  Revolution.  He  left  it  gladly,  however, 
for  the  farm  life  seemed   to  him  much   harder  and 

29 


30  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

more  squalid  than  lie  had  remembered  it  to  be,  and 
he  disliked  James  Mason's  wife.  As  he  and  Laura 
walked  down  the  long,  rough  track  connecting  the 
farm  with  the  main  road  on  the  day  of  their  depart- 
ure, Stephen  Fountain  whistled  so  loud  and  merrily 
that  the  skipping  child  beside  him  looked  at  him 
with  astonishment. 

It  was  his  way  no  doubt  of  thanking  Providence 
for  the  happy  chance  that  had  sent  his  father  to  a 
small  local  government  post  at  Newcastle,  and  him- 
self to  a  grammar  school  with  openings  on  the  Uni- 
versity. Yet  as  a  rule  he  thought  himself  anything 
but  a  successful  man.  He  held  a  lectureship  at  Cam- 
bridge in  an  obscure  scientific  subject,  and  was  in  his 
way  both  learned  and  diligent.  But  he  had  few 
pupils,  and  had  never  cared  to  have  them.  They 
interfered  with  his  own  research,  and  he  had  the  pas- 
sionate scorn  for  popularity  which  grows  np  naturally 
in  those  who  have  no  power  with  the  crowd.  His 
religious  opinions,  or  rather  the  manner  in  which  lie 
chose  to  express  them,  divided  him  from  many  good 
men.  He  was  poor,  and  he  hated  his  poverty.  A 
rather  imprudent  marriage  had  turned  out  neither 
particularly  well  nor  particularly  ill.  His  wife  had 
some  beauty,  however,  and  there  was  hardly  time  for 
disillusion.  She  died  when  Laura  was  still  a  totter- 
ing baby,  and  Stephen  had  missed  her  .sorely  for  a 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  31 

while.  Since  her  death  he  had  grown  to  be  a  very 
lonely  man,  silently  discontented  with  himself  and 
sourly  critical  of  his  neighbours.  Yet  all  the  same  he 
thanked  God  that  he  was  not  his  cousin  James. 

Potter's  Beach  as  a  watering-place  was  neither 
beautiful  nor  amusing.  Laura  was  happy  there,  but 
that  said  nothing.  All  her  childhood  through,  she 
had  the  most  surprising  gift  for  happiness.  From 
morning  till  night  she  lived  in  a  flutter  of  delicious 
nothings.  Unless  he  watched  her  closely,  Stephen 
Fountain  could  not  tell  for  the  life  of  him  what  she 
was  about  all  day.  But  he  saw  that  she  was  end- 
lessly about  something ;  her  little  hands  and  legs  never 
rested ;  she  dug,  bathed,  dabbled,  raced,  kissed,  ate, 
slept,  in  one  happy  bustle,  which  never  slackened 
except  for  the  hours  when  she  lay  rosy  and  still  in 
her  bed.  And  even  then  the  pretty  mouth  was  still 
eagerly  open,  as  though  sleep  had  just  breathed  upon 
its  chatter  for  a  few  charmed  moments,  and  "the  joy 
within"  was  already  breaking  from  the  spell. 

Stephen  Fountain  adored  her,  but  his  affections 
were  never  enough  for  him.  In  spite  of  the  child's 
spirits  he  himself  found  Potter's  Beach  a  desolation, 
all  the  more  that  he  was  cut  off  from  his  books 
for  a  time  by  doctor's  orders  and  his  own  common 
sense.  Suddenly,  as  he  took  his  daily  walk  over  the 
sands  with  Laura,  he  began  to  notice  a  thin  lady  in 


32  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

black,  sitting  alone  under  a  bank  of  sea-thistles,  and 
generally  struggling  with  an  umbrella  which  she  had 
put  up  to  shelter  herself  and  her  book  from  a  prevail- 
ing and  boisterous  wind.  Sometimes  when  he  passed 
her  in  the  little  street,  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  timid 
eyes,  or  he  saw  and  pitied  the  slight  involuntary  jerk 
of  the  head  and  shoulders,  Avhich  seemed  to  tell  of 
nervous  delicacy.  Presently  they  made  friends,  and 
he  found  her  lonely  and  discontented  like  himself. 
She  was  a  Catholic,  he  discovered ;  but  her  Catholicism 
was  not  that  of  the  convert,  but  of  an  old  inherited 
sort  which  sat  easily  enough  on  a  light  nature.  Then, 
to  his  astonishment,  it  appeared  that  she  lived  with  a 
brother  at  an  old  house  in  North  Lancashire  —  a  well- 
known  and  even,  in  its  degree,  famous  house  —  which 
lay  not  seven  miles  distant  from  his  grandfather's 
little  property,  and  had  been  quite  familiar  to  him  by 
repute,  and  even  by  sight  as  a  child.  When  he  was  a 
small  lad  staying  at  Browhead  Farm,  he  had  once  or 
twice  found  his  way  to  the  Greet,  and  had  strayed 
along  its  course  through  Bannisdale  Park.  Once  even, 
when  he  was  in  the  act  of  fishing  a  particular  pool 
where  the  trout  were  rising  in  a  manner  to  tempt  a 
very  archangel,  he  had  been  seized  and  his  primitive 
rod  broken  over  his  shoulder  l)y  an  old  man  whom  he 
believed  to  have  been  the  owner,  Mr.  Helbeck  him- 
self,—  a  magnificent  white-haired  person,  about  whom 
tales  ran  freely  in  the  country-side. 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  33 

So  this  little,  sliabby  old  maid  was  a  Helbeck  of 
Bannisdale !  As  he  looked  at  her,  Pountain  could 
uot  help  thinking  with  a  hidden  amusement  of  all 
the  awesome  prestige  the  name  had  once  carried  with 
it  for  his  boyish  ear.  Thirty  years  back,  what  a 
gulf  had  seemed  to  yawn  between  the  yeoman's 
grandson  and  the  lofty  owners  of  that  stern  and 
ancient  house  upon  the  Greet !  And  now,  how  glad 
was  old  Helbeck's  daughter  to  sit  or  walk  with  him 
and  his  child  !  —  and  how  plain  it  grew,  as  the  weeks 
passed  on,  that  if  he,  Stephen  Fountain,  willed  it, 
she  would  make  no  difficult}^  at  all  about  a  much 
longer  companionship !  Fountain  held  himself  to  be 
the  most  convinced  of  democrats,  a  man  who  had 
a  reasoned  right  to  his  Radical  opinions  that  com- 
moner folk  must  do  without.  Nevertheless,  his  pride 
fed  on  this  small  turn  of  fortune,  and  when  he  care- 
lessly addressed  his  new  friend,  her  name  gave  him 
pleasure. 

It  seemed  that  she  possessed  but  little  else,  poor 
lady.  Even  in  his  young  days.  Fountain  could  re- 
member that  the  Helbecks  were  reported  to  be  strait- 
ened, to  have  already  much  difficulty  in  keeping  up 
the  house  and  the  estate.  But  clearly  things  had 
fallen  by  now  to  a  much  lower  depth.  Miss  Hel- 
beck's dress,  talk,  lodgings,  all  spoke  of  poverty, 
great   poverty.     He  himself   had  never  known  what 

VOL.  I.  —  u 


34  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

it  was  to  have  a  superfiuoiis  ten  pounds;  but  the 
feverish  strain  that  belongs  to  such  a  situation  as 
the  Helbecks'  awoke  in  him  a  new  and  sharp  pity. 
He  was  very  sorry  for  the  little,  harassed  creature ; 
that  physical  privation  should  touch  a  woman  had 
always  seemed  to  him  a  monstrosity. 

What  was  the  brother  about?  —  a  great  strong 
fellow  by  all  accounts,  capable,  surely,  of  doing  some- 
thing for  the  family  fortunes.  Instinctively  Foun- 
tain held  him  responsible  for  the  sister's  fatigue  and 
delicacy.  They  had  just  lost  their  mother,  and  Au- 
gustina  had  come  to  Potter's  Beach  to  recover  from 
long  months  of  nursing.  And  presently  Fountain 
discovered  that  what  stood  between  her  and  health 
was  not  so  much  the  past  as  the  future. 

"You  don't  like  the  idea  of  going  home,"  he  said 
to  her  once,  abruptly,  after  they  had  grown  intimate. 
She  flushed,  and  hesitated ;  then  her  eyes  filled  with 
tears. 

G-radually  he  made  her  explain  herself.  The 
brother,  it  appeared,  was  twelve  years  younger  than 
herself,  and  had  been  brought  up  first  at  Stony- 
hurst,  and  afterwards  at  Louvain,  in  constant  sepa- 
ration from  the  rest  of  the  family.  He  had  never 
had  much  in  common  with  his  home,  since,  at  Stony- 
hurst,  he  had  come  under  the  influence  of  a  Jesuit 
teacher,  who,  in  the   language  of   old   Helbeck,  had 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  35 

turned  him  into  '^a  fond  sort  of  fellow,"  swarming 
with  notions  that  could  only  serve  to  carry  the  fam- 
ily decadence  a  step  further. 

"  We  have  been  Catholics  for  twenty  generations," 
said  Augustina,  in  her  quavering  voice.  ''But  our 
ways  — father's  ways  — weren't  good  enough  for  Alan. 
We  thought  he  was  making  up  his  mind  to  be  a 
Jesuit,  and  father  was  mad  about  it,  because  of  the 
old  place.  Then  father  died,  and  Alan  came  home. 
He  and  my  mother  got  on  best;  oh!  he  was  very 
good  to  her.  But  he  and  I  weren't  brought  up  in 
the  same  way;  you'd  think  he  was  already  under 
a  rule.     I    don't  —  know  —  I   suppose   it's   too   high 

for  me " 

She  took  up  a  handful  of  sand,  and  threw  it,  an- 
grily, from  her  thin  fingers,  hurrying  on,  however, 
as  if  the  unburdenment,  once  begun,  must  have  its 
course. 

"And  it's  hard  to  be  always  pulled  up  and  set 
right  by  some  one  you've  nursed  in  his  cradle.  Oh ! 
I  don't  mean  he  says  anything;  he  and  I  never 
had  words  in  our  lives.  But  it's  the  way  he  has 
of  doing  things  —  the  changes  he  makes.  You  feel 
how  he  disapproves  of  you;  he  doesn't  like  my 
friends  —  our  old  friends;  the  house  is  like  a  des- 
ert since  he  came.  And  the  money  he  gives  away ! 
The  priests  just  suck  us  dry  —  and  he  hasn't  got  it 


33  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

to  give.  Oil !  I  know  it's  all  very  wicked  of  me ; 
but  when  I  think  of  going  back  to  him  —  just  us 
two,  you  know,  in  that  old  house  —  and  all  the 
trouble  about  money " 

Her  voice  failed  her. 

"  Well,  don't  go  back,"  said  Fountain,  laying  his 
hand  on  her  arm. 

And  twenty-four  hours  later  he  was  still  pleased 
with  himself  and  her.  No  doubt  she  was  stupid,  poor 
Augustina,  and  more  ignorant  than  he  had  supposed 
a  human  being  could  be.  Her  only  education  seemed 
to  have  been  supplied  by  two  years  at  the  "  Convent 
des  Dames  Anglaises  "  at  St.-Omer,  and  all  that  she 
had  retained  from  it  was  a  small  stock  of  French 
idioms,  most  of  which  she  had  forgotten  how  to  use, 
though  she  did  use  them  frequently,  with  a  certain 
timid  pretension.  Of  that  habit  Fountain,  the  fastidi- 
ous, thought  that  he  should  break  her.  But  for  the 
rest,  her  religion,  her  poverty,  —  well,  she  had  a  hun- 
dred a  year,  so  that  he  and  Laura  would  be  no  worse 
off  for  taking  her  in,  and  the  child's  prospects,  of 
course,  should  not  suffer  by  a  halfpenny.  And  as  to 
the  Catholicism,  Fountain  smiled  to  himself.  No 
doubt  there  was  some  inherited  feeling.  But  even  if 
she  did  keep  up  her  little  mummeries,  he  could  not 
see  that  they  would  do  him  or  Laura  any  harm.     And 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  37 

for  the  rest  slie  suited  him.  She  somehow  crept  into 
his  loneliness  and  fitted  it.  He  was  getting  too  old 
to  go  farther,  and  he  might  well  fare  worse.  In  spite 
of  her  love  of  talk,  she  was  not  a  bad  listener ;  and 
longer  experience  showed  her  to  be  in  truth  the  soft 
and  gentle  nature  that  she  seemed.  She  had  a  curi- 
ous kind  of  vanity  which  showed  itself  in  her  feeling 
towards  her  brother.  But  Fountain  did  not  find  it 
disagreeable ;  it  even  gave  him  pleasure  to  flatter  it ; 
as  one  feeds  or  caresses  some  straying  half-starved 
creature,  partly  for  pity,  partly  that  the  human  will 
may  feel  its  power. 

"I  wonder  how  much  fuss  that  young  man  will 
make  ? "  Fountain  asked  himself,  when  at  last  it 
became  necessary  to  write  to  Bannisdale. 

Augustina,  however,  was  thirty-five,  in  full  posses- 
sion of  her  little  moneys,  and  had  no  one  to  consult 
but  herself.  Fountain  enjoyed  the  writing  of  the  let- 
ter, which  was  brief,  if  not  curt. 

Alan  Helbeck  appeared  without  an  hour's  delay  at 
Potter's  Beach.  Fountain  felt  himself  much  inclined 
beforehand  to  treat  the  tall  dark  youth,  sixteen  years 
his  junior,  as  a  tutor  treats  an  undergraduate.  Oddly 
enough,  however,  when  the  two  men  stood  face  to  face, 
Fountain  was  once  more  awkwardly  conscious  of  that 
old  sense  of  social  distance  which  the  sister  had  never 
recalled  to  him.     The  sting  of  it  made  him  rougher 


38  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

than  he  had  meant  to  be.  Otherwise  the  young  man's 
very  shabby  coat,  his  superb  good  looks,  and  courteous 
reserve  of  manner  might  ahnost  have  disarmed  the 
irritable  scholar. 

As  it  was,  Helbeck  soon  discovered  that  Fountain 
had  no  intention  of  allowing  Augustina  to  apply  for 
any  dispensation  for  the  marriage,  that  he  would 
make  no  promise  of  Catholic  bringing-up,  supposing 
there  were  children,  and  that  his  idea  was  to  be 
married  at  a  registry  office. 

"  I  am  one  of  those  people  who  don't  trouble  them- 
selves about  the  affairs  of  another  world,"  said  Foun- 
tain in  a  suave  voice,  as  he  stood  in  the  lodging-house 
window,  a  bearded,  broad-shouldered  person,  his  hands 
thrust  wilfully  into  the  very  baggy  pockets  of  his  ill- 
fitting  light  suit.  ''I  won't  worry  your  sister,  and 
I  don't  suppose  there'll  be  any  children.  But  if 
there  are,  I  really  can't  promise  to  make  Catholics 
of  them.  And  as  for  myself,  I  don't  take  things 
so  easy  as  it's  the  fashion  to  do  now.  I  can't  pre- 
sent myself  in  church,  even  for  Augustina." 

Helbeck  sat  silent  for  a  few  minutes  with  his  eyes 
on  the  ground.     Then  he  rose. 

"You  ask  what  no  Catholic  should  grant,"  he 
said  slowly.  "But  that  of  course  you  know.  I 
can  have  nothing  to  do  with  such  a  marriage,  and 
my  duty  naturally  will  be  to  dissuade  my  sister  fron 
it  as  strongly  as  possible." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  30 

Fountain  bowed. 

"  She  is  expecting  you,"  he  said.  "  1  of  course 
await  her  decision." 

His  tone  was  hardly  serious.  Nevertheless, 
during  the  time  that  Helbeck  and  Augustina  were 
pacing  the  sands  together.  Fountain  went  through 
a  good  deal  of  uneasiness.  One  never  knew  how 
or  where  this  damned  poison  in  the  blood  might 
break  out  again.  That  young  fanatic,  a  Jesuit 
already  by  the  look  of  him,  would  of  course  try  all 
their  inherited  Mumbo  Jumbo  upon  her;  and  what 
woman  is  at  bottom  anything  more  than  the  prey 
of  the  last  speaker? 

When,  however,  it  was  all  over,  and  he  was  al- 
lowed to  see  his  Augustina  in  the  evening,  he 
found  her  helpless  with  crying  indeed,  but  as  obsti- 
nate as  only  the  meek  of  the  earth  can  be.  She 
had  broken  wholly  with  her  brother  and  with  Ban- 
nisdale;  and  Fountain  gathered  that,  after  all 
Helbeck's  arguments  and  entreaties,  there  had 
flashed  a  moment  of  storm  between  them,  when  the 
fierce  "Helbeck  temper,"  traditional  through  many 
generations,  had  broken  down  the  self-control  of 
the  ascetic,  and  .  Augustina  must  needs  have 
trembled.  However,  there  she  was,  frightened 
and  miserable,  but  still  determined.  And  her 
terror    was    much    more    concerned   with   the   possi- 


40  HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

bility  of  any  return  to  live  with  Alan  and  his  all- 
exacting  creed  than  anything  else.  Fountain  caught 
-himself  wondering  whether  indeed  she  had  imagina- 
tion enough  to  lay  much  hold  on  those  spiritual 
terrors  with  which  she  had  no  doubt  been  threat- 
ened. In  this,  however,  he  misjudged  her,  as  will 
be  seen. 

Meanwhile  he  sent  for  an  elderly  Evangelical 
cousin  of  his  wife's,  who  was  accustomed  to  take 
a  friendly  interest  in  his  child  and  himself.  She, 
in  Protestant  jubilation  over  this  brand  snatched 
from  the  burning,  came  in  haste,  very  nearly  de- 
parting, indeed,  in  similar  haste  as  soon  as  the 
unholy  project  of  the  secular  marriage  was 
mooted.  However,  under  much  persuasion  she 
remained,  lamenting;  Augustina  sent  to  Bannis- 
dale  for  her  few  possessions,  and  the  scanty  cere- 
mony was  soon  over. 

Meanwhile  Laura  had  but  found  in  the  whole 
affair  one  more  amusement  and  excitement  added 
to  the  many  that,  according  to  her.  Potter's  Beach 
already  possessed.  The  dancing  elfish  child  —  who 
had  no  memory  of  her  own  mother  —  had  begun  by 
taking  the  little  old  maid  under  her  patronising 
wing.  She  graciously  allowed  Augustina  to  make 
a  lap  for  all  the  briny  treasures  she  might  accumu- 
late  in   the   course    of    a    breathless    morning;    she 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  41 

rushed  to  give  her  first  information  whenever  that 
encroaching  monster  the  sea  broke  down  her  castles. 
And  as  soon  as  it  appeared  that  her  papa  liked 
Aiigustina,  and  had  a  use  for  her,  Laura  at  the  age 
of  eight  promptly  accepted  her  as  part  of  the  family 
circle,  without  the  smallest  touch  of  either  senti- 
ment or  opposition.  She  walked  gaily  hand  in 
hand  with  her  father  to  the  registry  office  at  St. 
Bees.  The  jealously  hidden,  stormy  little  heart 
knew  well  enough  that  it  had  nothing  to  fear. 

Then  came  many  quiet  years  at  Cambridge. 
Augustina  spoke  no  more  of  her  brother,  and  appar- 
ently let  her  old  creed  slip.  She  conformed  herself 
wholly  to  her  husband's  ways, —  a  little  colourless 
thread  on  the  stream  of  academic  life,  slightly  re- 
garded, and  generally  silent  out  of  doors,  but  at  home 
a  gentle,  foolish,  and  often  voluble  person,  very  easily 
made  happy  by  some  small  kindness  and  a  few 
creature  comforts. 

Laura  meanwhile  grew  up,  and  no  one  exactly 
knew  how.  Her  education  was  a  thing  of  shreds  and 
patches,  managed  by  herself  throughout,  and  express- 
ing her  own  strong  will  or  caprice  from  the  begin- 
ning. She  put  herself  to  school  —  a  day  school  only ; 
and  took  herself  away  as  soon  as  she  was  tired  of  it. 
She  threw  herself  madly  into  physical  exercises  like 
dancing  or  skating ;  and  excelled  in  most  of  them  by 


42  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

virtue  of  a  certain  wild  grace,  a  tameless  strength  of 
spirits  and  will.  And  yet  she  grew  up  small  and 
pale ;  and  it  was  not  till  she  was  about  eighteen  that 
she  suddenly  blossomed  into  prettiness. 

"  Carrotina  —  why,  what's  happened  to  5  ou  ?  "  said 
her  father  to  her  one  day. 

She  turned  in  astonishment  from  her  task  of  put- 
ting some  books  tidy  on  his  study  shelves.  Then  she 
coloured  half  angrily. 

"  I  must  put  my  hair  up  some  time,  I  suppose,"  she 
said  resentfully.  There  was  something  in  the  abrupt- 
ness of  her  father's  question,  no  less  than  in  the  new 
closeness  and  sharpness  of  eye  with  which  he  was 
examining  her,  that  annoyed  her. 

"  Well !  you've  made  a  young  lady  of  yourself.  I 
dare  say  I  mustn't  call  you  nicknames  any  more  ! " 

"I  don't  mind,"  she  said  indifferently,  going  on 
with  her  work,  while  he  looked  at  the  golden-red 
mass  she  had  coiled  round  her  little  head,  with  an 
odd  half-welcome  sense  of  change,  a  sudden  prescience 
of  the  future. 

Then  she  turned  again. 

"If  —  if  you  make  any  absurd  changes,"  she  said, 
with  a  frown,  "  I'll  —I'll  cut  it  all  off !" 

"  You'd  better  not ;  there'd  be  ructions,"  he  said, 
laughing.  "It's  not  yours  till  you're  twenty- 
one." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  43 

And  to  himself  lie  said,  "  Gracious  !  I  didn't  bargain 
for  a  pretty  daughter.  What  am  I  to  do  with  her  ? 
Augustina  '11  never  get  her  married." 

And  certainly  during  this  early  youth,  Laura 
showed  no  signs  of  getting  herself  married.  She  did 
not  apparently  know  when  a  young  man  was  by ;  and 
her  bright  vehement  ways,  her  sharp  turns  of  speech, 
went  on  just  the  same ;  she  neither  quivered  nor 
thrilled ;  and  her  chatter,  when  she  did  chatter,  spent 
itself  almost  with  indifference  on  anyone  who  came 
near  her.  She  was  generally  gay,  generally  in 
spirits ;  and  her  girl  companions  knew  well  that  there 
was  no  one  so  reserved,  and  that  the  inmost  self  of 
her,  if  such  a  thing  existed,  dwelt  far  away  from  any 
ken  of  theirs.  Every  now  and  then  she  would  have 
vehement  angers  and  outbreaks  which  contrasted  with 
the  nonchalance  of  her  ordinary  temper;  but  it  was 
hard  to  find  the  clue  to  them. 

Altogether  she  passed  for  a  clever  girl,  even  in  a 
University  town,  where  cleverness  is  weighed.  But 
her  education,  except  in  two  points,  was,  in  truth,  of 
the  slightest.  Any  mechanical  drudgery  that  her 
father  could  set  her,  she  did  without  a  murmur ;  or, 
rather,  she  claimed  it  jealously,  with  a  silent  passion. 
But,  with  an  obstinacy  equally  silent,  she  set  herself 
against  the  drudgery  that  would  have  made  her  his 
intellectual  companion. 


44  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALB 

His  rows  of  technical  books,  the  scholarly  and 
laborious  details  of  his  work,  filled  her  with  an  invin- 
cible repugnance.  And  he  did  not  attempt  to  per- 
suade her.  As  to  women  and  their  claims,  he  was 
old-fashioned  and  contemptuous ;  he  would  have  been 
much  embarrassed  by  a  learned  daughter.  That  she 
should  copy  and  tidy  for  him;  that  she  should  sit 
curled  up  for  hours  with  a  book  or  a  piece  of  work  in 
a  corner  of  his  room :  that  she  should  bring  him  his 
pipe,  and  break  in  upon  his  work  at  the  right  moment 
with  her  peremptory  ^'Papa,  come  out!"  —  these 
things  were  delightful,  nay,  necessary  to  him.  But 
he  had  no  dreams  beyond;  and  he  never  thought  of 
her,  her  education  or  her  character,  as  a  whole.  It 
was  not  his  way.  Besides,  girls  took  their  chance. 
With  a  boy,  of  course,  one  plans  and  looks  ahead. 
But  Laura  would  have  200?.  a  year  from  her  mother 
whatever  happened,  and  something  more  at  his  own 
death.     Why  trouble  oneself  ? 

No  doubt  indirectly  he  contributed  very  largely 
to  her  growing  up.  The  sight  of  his  work  and  his 
methods ;  the  occasional  talks  she  overheard  between 
him  and  his  scientific  comrades ;  the  tones  of  irony 
and  denial  in  the  atmosphere  about  him ;  his  an- 
tagonisms, his  bitternesses,  worked  strongly  upon 
her  still  plastic  nature.  Moreover  she  felt  to  her 
heart's   core   that   he  was   unsuccessful ;   there   were 


HELBECK  OF  BANJSISDALE  45 

appointments  he  should  have  had,  but  had  failed  to 
get,  and  it  was  the  religious  party,  the  "clerical 
crew  "  in  Congregation  or  the  Senate,  that  had  stood 
in  the  way.  From  her  childhood  it  came  natural  to 
her  to  hate  bigoted  people  who  believed  in  ridiculous 
things.  It  was  they  stood  between  her  father  and 
his  deserts.  There  loomed  up,  as  it  were,  on  her 
horizon,  something  dim  and  majestic,  which  was 
called  Science.  Towards  this  her  father  pressed, 
she  clinging  to  him ;  while  all  about  them  was  a 
black  and  hindering  crowd,  through  which  they  clove 
their  way  —  contemptuously. 

In  one  direction,  indeed.  Fountain  admitted  her  to 
his  mind.  Like  Mill,  he  found  the  rest  and  balm 
of  life  in  poetry ;  and  here  he  took  Laura  with  him. 
They  read  to  each  other,  they  spurred  each  other  to 
learn  by  heart.  He  kept  nothing  from  her.  Shelley 
was  a  passion  of  his  own ;  it  became  hers.  She 
taught  herself  German,  that  she  might  read  Heine 
and  Goethe  with  him ;  and  one  evening,  when  she 
was  little  more  than  sixteen,  he  rushed  her  through 
the  first  part  of  "  Faust,"  so  that  she  lay  awake  the 
whole  night  afterwards  in  such  a  passion  of  emotion, 
that  it  seemed,  for  the  moment,  to  change  her  whole 
existence.  Sometimes  it  astonished  him  to  see  what 
capacity  she  had,  not  only  for  the  feeling,  but  for 
the  sensuous  pleasure,  of  poetry.     Lines  —  sounds  — 


46  IIELBECK    OF  BANNISDALE 

haimted  lier  for  days,  tlie  beauty  of  them  would 
make  her  start  and  tremble. 

She  did  her  best,  however,  to  hide  this  side  of  her 
nature  even  from  him.  And  it  was  not  difficult. 
She  remained  childishly  immature  and  backward  in 
many  things.  She  was  a  personality ;  that  was  clear ; 
one  could  hardly  say  that  she  was  or  had  a  charac- 
ter. She  was  a  bundle  of  loves  and  hates ;  a  force, 
not  an  organism ;  and  her  father  was  often  as  nmch 
puzzled  by  her  as  anyone  else. 

Music  perhaps  was  the  only  study  which  ever  con- 
quered her  indolence.  Here  it  happened  that  a 
famous  musician,  who  settled  in  Cambridge  for 
a  time,  came  across  her  gift  and  took  notice  of  it. 
And  to  please  him  she  worked  with  industry,  even 
with  doggedness.  Brahms,  Chopin,  Wagner  —  these 
great  romantics  possessed  her  in  music  as  Shelley  or 
Eossetti  did  in  poetry.  "You  little  demon,  Laura! 
How  do  you  come  to  play  like  that  ?  "  a  girl  friend 
—  her  only  intimate  friend  —  said  to  her  once  in 
despair.  "It's  the  expression.  Where  do  you  get 
it  ?     And  I  practise,  and  you  don't ;  it's  not  fair." 

"  Expression  ! "  said  Laura,  with  annoyance,  "  what 
does  that  matter  ?  That's  the  amateur  all  over. 
Of  course  I  play  like  that  because  I  can't  do  it 
any  better.  If  I  could  play  the  7iotes "  —  she 
clenched  her  little  hand,   with  a  curious,   almost   a 


HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE  47 

fierce  energy  —  "if  I  had  any  technique  —  or  Avas 
ever  likely  to  have  any,  what  should  I  want  with  ex- 
pression ?  Any  cat  can  give  you  expression !  There 
was  one  under  my  window  last  night  —  you  should 
just  have  heard  it ! " 

Molly  Friedland,  the  girl  friend,  shrugged  her 
shoulders.  She  was  as  soft,  as  normal,  as  self-con- 
trolled, as  Laura  was  wilful  and  irritable.  But  there 
was  a  very  real  affection  between  them. 

Years  passed.  Insensibly  Augustina's  health  began 
to  fail;  and  with  it  the  new  cheerfulness  of  her  mid- 
dle life.  Then  Fountain  himself  fell  suddenly  and 
dangerously  ill.  All  the  peaceful  habits  and  small 
pleasures  of  their  common  existence  broke  down  after 
a  few  days,  as  it  were,  into  a  miserable  confusion. 
Augustina  stood  bewildered.  Then  a  convulsion  of 
soul  she  had  expected  as  little  as  anyone  else,  swept 
upon  her.  A  number  of  obscure,  inherited,  half-dead 
instincts  revived.  She  lived  in  terror ;  she  slept, 
weeping ;  and  at  the  back  of  an  old  drawer  she  found 
a  rosary  of  her  childhood  to  which  her  fingers  clung 
night  and  day. 

Meanwhile  Fountain  resigned  himself  to  death. 
During  his  last  days  his  dimmed  senses  did  not 
perceive  what  was  happening  to  his  wife.  But  he 
troubled  himself  about  her  a  good  deal. 

"Take  care  of   her,  Laura/'   he  said   once,    "till 


48  H  EL  BECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

she  gets  strong.  Look  after  her.  —  But  you  can't 
sacrifice  your  life.  —  It  may  be  Christian,"  he  added, 
in  a  murmur,  "  but  it  isn't  sense." 

Unconsciousness  came  on.  Augustina  seemed  to 
lose  her  wits ;  and  at  last  only  Laura,  sitting  pale 
and  fierce  beside  her  father,  prevented  her  stepmother 
from  bringing  a  priest  to  his  death-bed.  "  You  would 
not  dare ! "  said  the  girl,  in  her  low,  quivering  voice ; 
and  Augustina  could  only  wring  her  hands. 

The  day  after  her  husband  died  Mrs.  Fountain 
returned  to  her  Catholic  duties.  When  she  came 
back  from  confession,  she  slipped  as  noiselessly  as 
she  could  into  the  darkened  house.  A  door  opened 
upstairs,  and  Laura  came  out  of  her  father's  room. 

"You  have  done  it?"  she  said,  as  her  stepmother, 
trembling  with  agitation  and  weariness,  came  towards 
her.     "  You  have  gone  back  to  them  ?  " 

"  Oh,  Laura !  I  had  to  follow  the  call  —  my  con- 
science —  Laura !  oh  !  your  poor  father !  " 

And  with  a  burst  of  weeping  the  widow  held  out 
her  hands. 

Laura  did  not  move,  and  the  hands  dropped. 

"  My  father  wants  nothing,"  she  said. 

The  indescribable  pride  and  passion  of  her  accent 
cowed  Augustina,  and  she  moved  away,  crying  silently. 
The  girl  went  back  to  the  dead,  and  sat  beside  him. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  49 

in   an  angnish   tliat  had  no  more  tears,  till   he  was 
taken  from  her. 

Mr.  Helbeck  wrote  kindly  to  his  sister  in  reply  to 
a  letter  from  her  informing  him  of  her  husband's 
death,  and  of  her  own  reconciliation  with  the  Chnrch. 
He  asked  whether  he  should  come  at  once  to  help 
them  through  the  business  of  the  funeral,  and  the 
winding  up  of  their  Cambridge  life.  "Beg  him, 
please,  to  stay  away,"  said  Laura,  when  the  letter 
was  shown  her.     "  There  are  plenty  of  people  here." 

And  indeed  Cambridge,  which  had  taken  little 
notice  of  the  Fountains  during  Stephen's  lifetime, 
was  even  fussily  kind  after  his  death  to  his  widow 
and  child.  It  was  at  all  times  difi&cult  to  be  kind 
to  Laura  in  distress,  but  there  Avas  much  true  pity 
felt  for  her,  and  a  good  deal  of  curiosity  as  to  her 
relations  with  her  Catholic  stepmother.  Only  from 
the  Friedlands,  however,  would  she  accept,  or  allow 
her  stepmother  to  accept,  any  real  help.  Dr.  Fried- 
land  was  a  man  of  middle  age,  who  had  retired  on 
moderate  wealth  to  devote  himself  to  historical  Avork 
by  the  help  of  the  Cambridge  libraries.  He  had  been 
much  drawn  to  Stephen  Fountain,  and  Fountain  to 
him.  It  was  a  recent  and  a  brief  friendship,  but 
there  had  been  something  in  it  on  Dr.  Friedland's 
side  —  something   respectful   and    cordial,    something 

VOL.  I.  — B 


50  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

generous  and  understanding,  for  which  Laura  loved 
the  infirm  and  grey-haired  scholar,  and  would  always 
love  him.  She  shed  some  stormy  tears  after  parting 
with  the  Priedlands,  otherwise  she  left  Cambridge 
with  joy. 

On  the  day  before  they  left  Cambridge  Augus- 
tina  received  a  parcel  of  books  from  her  brother. 
For  the  most  part  they  were  kept  hidden  from 
Laura.  But  in  the  evening,  when  the  girl  was  do- 
ing some  packing  in  her  stepmother's  room,  she 
came  across  a  little  volume  lying  open  on  its  face. 
She  lifted  it,  saw  that  it  was  called  "Outlines  of 
Catholic  Belief,"  and  that  one  page  was  still  wet 
with  tears.  An  angry  curiosity  made  her  look  at 
what  stood  there :  "A  believer  in  one  God  who, 
without  wilful  fault  on  his  part,  knows  nothing  of 
the  Divine  Mystery  of  the  Trinity,  is  held  capable 
of  salvation  by  many  Catholic  theologians.  And 
there  is  the  '  invincible  ignorance '  of  the  heathen. 
What  else  is  possible  to  the  Divine  mercy  let  none 
of  ns  presume  to  know.  Our  part  in  these  matters 
is  obedience,  not  speculation." 

In  faint  pencil  on  the  margin  was  written :  "■  My 
Stephen  coidd  not  believe.     Mary  —  pray " 

The  book  contained  the  Bannisdale  book-plate, 
and  the  name  "Alan  Helbeck."  Laura  threw  it 
down.      But   her   face   trembled    through    its   scornj 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  51 

and  she  finished  what  she  was  domg  in  a  kind  of 
blind  passion.  It  was  as  though  she  hekl  her 
father's  dying  form  in  her  arms,  protecting  him 
against  the  same  meddling  and  tyrannical  force 
that  had  injured  him  while  he  lived,  and  was  still 
making  mouths  at  him  now  that  he  was  dead. 

She  and  Augustina  went  to  the  sea — to  Folkestone, 
for  Augustina's  health.  Here  Mrs.  Fountain  began 
to  correspond  regularly  with  her  brother,  and  it 
was  soon  clear  that  her  heart  was  hungering  for 
him,  and  for  her  old  home  at  Bannisdale.  But  she 
was  still  painfully  dependent  on  Laura.  Laura  was 
her  maid  and  nurse;  Laura  managed  all  her  busi- 
ness. At  last  one  day  she  made  her  prayer. 
Would  Laura  go  with  her  —  for  a  little  while  —  to 
Bannisdale?  Alan  wished  it  —  Alan  had  invited 
them  both.  "He  would  be  so  good  to  you,  Laura 
—  and  I'm  sure  it  would  set  me  up." 

Laura  gave  a  gulp.  She  dropped  her  little  chin 
on  her  hands  and  thought.  Well  —  why  not  ?  It 
would  be  all  hateful  to  her  —  Mr.  Helbeck  and  his 
house  together.  She  knew  very  well,  or  guessed 
what  his  relation  to  her  father  had  been.  But 
what  if  it  made  Augustina  strong,  if  in  time  she 
could  be  left  with  her  brother  altogether,  to  live 
wiih  him?  —  In  one  or  two  of  his  letters  he  had 
pro^^sed  as  much.     Why,  tliat  would  bring  Laura's 


52  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

responsibility,  her  sole  responsibility,  at  any  rate, 
to  an  end. 

She  thought  of  Molly  Friedland  —  of  their  girlish 
plans  —  of  travel,  of  music. 

"All  right,"  she  said,  springing  up.  ''We  will 
go,  Augustina.  I  suppose,  for  a  little  while,  Mr. 
Helbeck  and  I  can  keep  the  peace.  You  must  tell 
him  to  let  me  alone." 

She  paused,  then  said  with  sudden  vehemence, 
like  one  who  takes  her  stand  —  "And  tell  him, 
please,  Augustina  —  make  it  very  plain  —  that  I 
shall  never  come  in  to  prayers." 


CHAPTEE  III 

The  sun  was  sliining  into  Laura's  room  when  slie 
awoke.  She  lay  still  for  a  little  while,  looking  about 
her. 

Her  room  —  which  formed  part  of  an  eighteenth- 
century  addition  to  the  Tudor  house  —  was  rudely 
panelled  with  stained  deal,  save  on  the  fireplace 
wall,  where,  on  either  side  of  the  hearth,  the  plaster 
had  been  covered  with  tapestry.  The  subject  of  the 
tapestry  was  Diana  hunting.  Diana,  white  and  tall, 
with  her  bow  and  quiver,  came,  queenly,  through  a 
green  forest.  Two  greyhounds  ranged  beside  her,  and 
in  the  dim  distance  of  the  wood  her  maidens  followed. 
On  the  right  an  old  castle,  with  pillars  like  a  Greek 
temple,  rose  stately  but  a  little  crooked  on  the  edge 
of  a  blue  sea;  the  sea  much  faded,  with  the  wooden 
handle  of  a  cupboard  thrust  rudely  through  it.  Two 
long-limbed  ladies,  with  pulled  patched  faces,  stood 
on  the  castle  steps.  Tn  front  was  a  ship,  with  a  wait- 
ing warrior  and  a  swelling  sail ;  and  under  him,  a  blue 
wave  worn  very  threadbare,  shamed  indeed  by  that 

53 


54  BELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

intruding  handle,  bnt  still  blue  enough,  still  windy 
enough  for  thoughts  of  love  and  flight. 

Laura,  half  asleep  still,  with  her  hands  under  her 
cheek,  lay  staring  in  a  vague  pleasure  at  the  castle 
and  the  forest.  "  Enchanted  casements  "  —  "  perilous 
seas"  —  "in  fairy  lands  forlorn."  The  lines  ran 
sleepily,  a  little  jumbled,  in  her  memory. 

But  gradually  the  morning  and  the  freshness 
worked;  and  her  spirits,  emerging  from  their  half- 
dream,  began  to  dance  within  her.  When  she  sprang 
up  to  throw  the  window  wide,  there  below  her  was 
the  sparkling  river,  the  daffodils  waving  their  pale 
heads  in  the  delicate  Westmoreland  grass,  the  high 
white  clouds  still  racing  before  the  wind.  How 
heavenly  to  find  oneself  in  this  wild  clean  country ! 
—  after  all  the  ugly  squalors  of  parade  and  lodging- 
house,  after  the  dingy  bow-windowed  streets  with  the 
March  dust  whirling  through  them. 

She  leant  across  the  broad  window-sill,  her  chin  on 
her  hands,  absorbed,  drinking  it  in.  The  eastern  sun, 
coming  slanting-ways,  bathed  her  tumbled  masses  of 
fair  hair,  her  little  white  form,  her  bare  feet  raised 
tiptoe. 

Suddenly  she  drew  back.  She  had  seen  the  figure 
of  a  man  crossing  the  park  on  the  further  side  of  the 
river,  and  the  maidenly  instinct  drove  her  from  the 
window;  though  the  man  in  question  was  perhaps  a 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  55 

quarter  of  a  mile  away,  and  had  he  been  looking  for 
her,  could  not  possibly  have  made  out  more  than  a 
pale  speck  on  the  old  wall. 

"  Mr.  Helbeck,"  —  she  thought  —  ''  by  the  height 
of  him.  Where  is  he  off  to  before  seven  o'clock  in 
the  morning  ?  I  hate  a  man  that  can't  keep  rational 
hours  like  other  people !     Fricka,  come  here ! " 

For  her  little  dog,  who  had  sprung  from  the  bed 
after  its  mistress,  Avas  now  stretching  and  blinking 
behind  her.  At  Laura's  voice  it  jumped  up  and  tried 
to  lick  her  face.  Laura  caught  it  in  her  arms  and 
sat  down  on  the  bed,  still  hugging  it. 

"No,  Fricka,  1  don't  like  him  —  I  don't,  I  don't,  I 
don't!  But  you  and  I  have  just  got  to  behave.  If 
you  annoy  that  big  dog  downstairs,  he'll  break  your 
neck,  —  he  will,  Fricka.  As  for  me,"  —  she  shrugged 
her  small  shoulders,  —  "  well,  Mr.  Helbeck  can't  break 
my  neck,  so  I'm  dreadfully  afraid  I  shall  annoy  him 
—  dreadfully,  dreadfully  afraid !  But  I'll  try  not. 
You  see,  what  we've  got  to  do,  is  just  to  get  Augus- 
tina  well  —  stand  over  her  with  a  broomstick  and  pour 
the  tonics  down  her  throat.  Then,  Fricka,  we'll  go 
our  way  and  have  some  fun.     Now  look  at  us  ! " 

She  moved  a  little,  so  that  the  cracked  glass  on  the 
dressing-table  reflected  her  head  and  shoulders,  with 
the  dog  against  her  neck. 

"You  know  Ave're  not  at  all  bad-looking,  Fricka  — 


56  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

neither  of  us.  I've  seen  much  worse.  (Oh,  Fricka! 
I've  told  you  scores  of  times  I  can  wash  my  face  — 
without  you  —  thank  you!)  There's  all  sorts  of  nice 
things  that  might  happen  if  we  just  put  ourselves  in 
tlie  way  of  them.  Oh !  I  do  want  some  fun  —  I  do ! 
—  at  least  sometimes!" 

But  again  the  voice  dropped  suddenly ;  the  big 
greenish  eyes  filled  in  a  moment  with  inconsistent 
tears,  and  Laura  sat  staring  at  the  sunshine,  while 
the  drops  fell  on  her  white  nightgown. 

Meanwhile  Fricka,  being  half  throttled,  made  a 
violent  effort  and  escaped.  Laura  too  sprang  up, 
wiped  away  her  tears  as  though  she  were  furious 
with  them,  and  began  to  look  about  her  for  the 
means  of  dressing.  Everything  in  the  room  was  of 
the  poorest  and  scantiest  —  the  cottage  washstand 
with  its  crockery,  the  bare  dressing-table  and  dilapi- 
dated glass. 

"  A  bath  !  —  my  kingdom  for  a  bath !  I  don't 
mind  starving,  but  one  must  wash.  Let's  ring  for 
that  rough-haired  girl,  Fricka,  and  try  and  get  round 
her.     Goodness!  —  no  bells?" 

After  long  search,  however,  she  discovered  a  tat- 
tered shred  of  tapestry  hanging  in  a  corner,  and 
pulled  it  vigorously.  Many  efforts,  however,  were 
needed  before  there  was  a  sound  of  feet  in  the 
passage  outside.  Laura  hastily  donned  a  blue  dress- 
ing-gown, and  stood  expectant. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  57 

The  door  was  opened  imcerem  onion  sly  ;ind  a  giil 
thrust  in  her  head.  Laura  had  made  acquaintance 
with  her  the  night  before.  She  was  the  house- 
keeper's underling  and  niece. 

"Mrs.  Denton  says  I'm  not  to  stop.  She's  noa 
time  for  answerin  bells.  And  you'll  have  some  hot 
water  when  t'  kettle  boils." 

The  door  was  just  shutting  again  when  Laura 
sprang  at  the  speaker  and  caught  her  by  the  arm. 

"My  dear,"  she  said,  dragging  the  girl  in,  "that 
won't  do  at  all.  Now  look  here  "  —  she  held  up  her 
little  white  hand,  shaking  the  forefinger  with  energy 
—  "I  don't  —  want  —  to  give — any  trouble,  and  Mrs. 
Denton  may  keep  her  hot  water.  But  I  must  have 
a  bath  —  and  a  big  can  —  and  somebody  must  show 
me  where  to  go  for  water  —  and  then  —  then,  my 
dear  —  if  you  make  yourself  agreeable,  I'll  —  well, 
I'll  teach  you  how  to  do  your  hair  on  Sundays  —  in 
a  way  that  will  surprise  you ! " 

The  girl  stared  at  her  in  sudden  astonishment,  her 
dark  stupid  eyes  wavering.  She  had  a  round,  peas- 
ant face,  not  without  comeliness,  and  a-  lustreless 
shock  of  black  hair.     Laura  laughed. 

"I  will,"  she  said,  nodding ;  "you'll  see.  And  I'll 
give  you  notions  for  your  best  frock.  I'll  be  a  regu- 
lar elder  sister  to  you  — if  you'll  just  do  a  few  things 
for  me  —  and  Mrs.    I'^ountaiu.     What's   your  name  — 


58  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

Ellen  ?  —  that's  all  right.  Now,  is  there  a  bath  in 
the  house  ? " 

The  girl  unwillingly  replied  that  there  was  one  in 
the  big  room  at  the  end  of  the  passage. 

"Show  it  me,"  said  Laura,  and  marched  her  off 
there.  The  rough-headed  one  led  the  way  along  the 
panelled  passage  and  opened  a  door. 

Then  it  was  Laura's  turn  to  stare. 

Inside  she  saw  a  vast  room  with  finely  panelled 
walls  and  a  decorated  ceiling.  The  sunlight  poured 
in  through  an  uncurtained  window  upon  the  only  two 
objects  in  the  room, — a  magnificent  bed,  carved  and 
gilt,  with  hangings  of  tarnished  brocade,  —  and  a 
round  tin  bath  of  a  common,  old-fashioned  make, 
propped  up  against  the  wall.  The  oak  boards  were 
absolutely  bare.  The  bed  and  the  bath  looked  at  each 
other. 

"  What's  become  of  all  the  furniture  ? "  said 
Laura,    gazing   round   her   in   astonishment. 

"The  gentleman  from  Edinburgh  had  it  all,  lasst 
month,"  said  the  girl,  still  sullenly.  "He's  affther 
the  bed  now." 

"  Oh  !  —  Does  he  often  come  here  ?  " 

The  girl  hesitated. 

"  Well,  he's  had  a  lot  o'  things  oot  o'  t'  house,  sen  I 
came." 

"  Has  he  ?  "  said  Laura.  "  Now,  then  —  lend  a 
hand." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  69 

Between  them  they  carried  off  the  bath ;  and  then 
Laura  informed  herself  where  water  was  to  be  had, 
and  when  breakfast  would  be  ready. 

"T'  Squire's  goae  oot,"  said  Ellen,  still  watching 
the  newcomer  from  under  a  pair  of  very  black  and 
beetling  brows ;  "  and  Mrs.  Denton  said  she  supposed 
yo'd  be  wantin  a  tray  for  Mrs.  Fountain." 

"  Does  the  Squire  take  no  breakfast  ?  " 

"Noa.  He's  away  to  Mass — ivery  mornin,  an'  he 
gets  his  breakfast  wi'  Father  Bowles." 

The  girl's  look  grew  more  hostile. 

"  Oh,  does  he  ?  "  said  Laura  in  a  tone  of  meditation. 
"  Well,  then,  look  here.  Put  another  cup  and  another 
plate  on  Mrs.  Fountain's  tray,  and  I'll  have  mine  with 
her.     Shall  I  come  down  to  the  kitchen  for  it  ?  " 

"  Noa,"  said  the  girl  hastily.  "  Mrs.  Denton  doan't 
like  foak  i'  t'  kitchen." 

At  that  moment  a  call  in  Mrs.  Denton's  angriest 
tones  came  pealing  along  the  passage  outside.  Laura 
laughed  and  pushed  the  girl  out  of  the  room. 

An  hour  later  Miss  Fountain  was  ministering  to  her 
stepmother  in  the  most  comfortable  bedroom  that  the 
house  afforded.  The  furniture,  indeed,  Avas  a  medley. 
It  seemed  to  have  been  gathered  out  of  many  other 
rooms.  But  at  any  rate  there  was  abundance  of  it ;  a 
pet  much  worn,  but  still  useful,  covered  the  floor ; 


60  HELBECK  OF  BANNI^DALE 

aud  Ellen  had  lit  the  fire  without  being  summoned  to 
do  it.  Laura  recognised  that  Mr.  Helbeck  must  have 
given  a  certain  number  of  precise  orders  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  sister. 

Poor  Mrs.  Fountain,  however,  was  not  happy.  She 
was  sitting  up  in  bed,  wrapped  in  an  unbecoming 
flannel  jacket  —  Augustina  had  no  taste  in  clothes  — 
and  looking  with  an  odd  repugnance  at  the  very  pas- 
sable breakfast  that  Laura  placed  before  her.  Laura 
did  not  quite  know  what  to  make  of  her.  In  old 
days  she  had  always  regarded  her  stepmother  as  an 
easy-going,  rather  self-indulgent  creature,  Avho  liked 
pleasant  food  and  stuffed  chairs,  and  could  be  best 
managed  or  propitiated  through  some  attention  to  her 
taste  in  sofa-cushions  or  in  tea-cakes. 

No  doubt,  since  Mrs.  Fountain's  reconciliation  with 
the  Church  of  her  fathers,  she  had  shown  sometimes 
an  anxious  disposition  to  practise  the  usual  austerities 
of  good  Catholics.  But  neither  doctor  nor  director 
had  been  able  to  indulge  her  in  this  respect,  owing 
to  the  feebleness  of  her  health.  And  on  the  whole 
she  had  acquiesced  readily  enough. 

But  Laura  found  her  now  changed  and  restless. 

"  Oh  !  Laura,  I  can't  eat  all  that !  " 

"  You  must,"  said  Laura  firmly.  '<  Really,  Augus- 
tina, you  7nust." 

''Alan's  gone  out,"  said  Augustina,  with  a  wistful 


IlELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  61 

inconsequence,  straining  lier  eyes  as  though  to  look 
through  the  diamond  panes  of  the  window  opposite,  at 
the  park  and  the  persons  walking  in  it. 

*'  Yes.  He  seems  to  go  to  Whinthorpe  every  morning 
for  Mass.    Ellen  says  he  breakfasts  with  the  priest." 

Augustina  sighed  and  fidgeted.  But  when  she  was 
half-way  through  her  meal,  Laura  standing  over  her, 
she  suddenly  laid  a  shaking  hand  on  Laura's  arm. 

"Laura!  —  Alan's  a  saint! — he  always  was  —  long 
ago  —  when  I  was  so  blind  and  wicked.  But  now  — 
oh  !  the  things  Mrs.  Denton's  been  telling  me !  " 

"  Has  she  ?  "  said  Laura  coolly.  ''  Well,  make  up 
your  mind,  Augustina"  —  she  shook  her  bright  head  — 
"  that  you  can't  be  the  same  kind  of  saint  that  he  is  — 
anyway." 

Mrs.  Fountain  withdrew  her  hand  in  quick  offence. 

"  I  should  be  glad  if  you  could  talk  of  these  things 
without  flippancy,  Laura.  When  I  think  how  incapa- 
ble I  have  been  all  these  years,  of  understanding  my 
dear  brother " 

"No  —  you  see  you  were  living  with  papa,"  said 
Laura  slowly. 

She  had  left  her  stepmother's  side,  and  was  stand- 
ing with  her  back  to  an  old  cabinet,  resting  her  elbows 
upon  it.  Her  brows  were  drawn  together,  and  poor 
Mrs.  Fountain,  after  a  glance  at  her,  looked  still  more 
miserable. 


62  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"  Your  poor  papa !  "  she  murmured  with  a  gulp,  and 
then,  as  though  to  propitiate  Laura,  she  drew  her 
breakfast  back  to  her,  and  again  tried  to  eat  it.  Small 
and  slight  as  they  both  were,  there  was  a  very  sharp 
contrast  between  her  and  her  stepdaughter.  Laura's 
features  were  all  delicately  clear,  and  nothing  could 
have  been  more  definite,  more  brilliant  than  the 
colour  of  the  eyes  and  hair,  or  the  whiteness  —  which 
was  a  beautiful  and  healthy  whiteness  —  of  her  skin. 
Whereas  everything  about  Mrs.  Fountain  was  indeter- 
minate; the  features  with  their  slight  twist  to  the 
left ;  the  complexion,  once  fair,  and  now  reddened  by 
years  and  ill-health;  the  hair,  of  a  yellowish  grey; 
the  head  and  shoulders  with  their  nervous  infirmity. 
Only  the  eyes  still  possessed  some  purity  of  colour. 
Through  all  their  timidity  or  wavering,  they  were 
still  blue  and  sweet;  perhaps  they  alone  explained 
why  a  good  many  persons  —  including  her  stepdaugh- 
ter —  were  fond  of  Augustina. 

"  What  has  Mrs.  Denton .  been  telling  you  about 
Mr.  Helbeck?"  Laura  inquired,  speaking  with  some 
abruptness,  after  a  pause. 

"You  wouldn't  have  any  sympathy,  Laura,"  said 
Mrs.  Fountain,  in  some  agitation.  "  You  see,  you  don't 
understand  our  Catholic  principles.  I  wish  you  did ! 
—  oh  !  I  wish  you  did !  But  you  don't.  And  so  per 
haps  I'd  better  not  talk  about  it." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  63 

"It  might  interest  me  to  know  tlie  facts,"  said 
Laiira,  in  a  little  hard  voice.  "  It  seems  to  me  that 
I'm  likely  to  be  Mr.  Helbeck's  guest  for  a  good 
while." 

"  But  you  won't  like  it,  Laura ! "  cried  Mrs.  Foun- 
tain—  ''and  you'll  misunderstand  Alan.  Your  poor 
dear  father  always  misunderstood  him."  (Laura 
made  a  restless  movement.)  "It  is  not  because  we 
think  we  can  save  our  souls  by  such  things  —  of 
course  not!  —  that's  the  way  you  Protestants  put 
it " 

"I'm  not  a  Protestant!"  said  Laura  hotly.  Mrs. 
Fountain  took  no  notice. 

"But  it's  what  the  Church  calls  'mortification,'" 
she  said,  hurrying  on.  "  It's  keeping  the  body  under 
—  as  St.  Paul  did.  That's  what  makes  saints  —  and 
it  does  make  saints  —  whatever  people  say.  Your 
poor  father  didn't  agree,  of  course.  But  he  didn't 
know!  —  oh!  dear,  dear  Stephen!  —  he  didn't  know. 
And  Alan  isn't  cross,  and  it  doesn't  spoil  his  health  — 
it  doesn't,  really." 

"  What  does  he  do  ?  "  asked  Laura,  trying  for  the 
point. 

But  poor  Augustina,  in  her  mixed  flurry  of  feeling, 
could  hardly  explain. 

"You  see,  Laura,  there's  a  strict  way  of  keeping 
Lent,  and  —  well  —  just  the  common  way  —  doing  as 


64  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

little  as  you  can.  It  used  to  be  all  much  stricter,  of 
course." 

^'  In  the  Dark  Ages  ?  "  suggested  Laura.  Augus- 
tina  took  no  notice. 

"  And  what  the  books  tell  you  now,  is  much  stricter 
than  Avhat  anybody  does.  —  I'm  sure  I  don't  know 
why.  But  Alan  takes  it  strictly  —  he  wants  to  go 
back  to  quite  the  old  ways.  Oh !  I  wish  I  could 
explain  it " 

Mrs.  Fountain  stopped  bewildered.  She  was  sure 
she  had  heard  once  that  in  the  early  Church  people 
took  no  food  at  all  till  the  evening  —  not  even  a 
drink.      But  Alan  was  not  going  to  do  that? 

Laura  had  taken  Fricka  on  her  knee,  and  was 
straightening  the  ribbon  round  the  dog's  neck. 

"  Does  he  eat  anything  .?"  she  asked  carelessly,  look- 
ing up.     "  If  it's  nothing  —  that  would  be  interesting." 

"  Laura !  if  you  only  would  try  and  understand  !  — 
Of  course  Alan  doesn't  settle  such  a  thing  for  himself 
—  nobody  does  with  us.  That's  only  in  the  English 
CMiurch." 

Augustina  straightened  herself,  with  an  unconscious 
arrogance.     Laura  looked  at  her,  smiling. 

"  Who  settles  it,  then  ?  " 

"  Why,  his  director,  of  course.  He  must  have 
leave.  But  they  have  given  him  leave.  He  has 
chosen    a    rule    for    himself "  —  Augustina    gave    a 


IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  65 

visible  gulp  —  "and  he  called  Mrs.  Denton  to  him 
before  Lent,  and  told  her  about  it.  Of  course  he'll 
hide  it  as  much  as  he  can.  Catholics  must  never  be 
singular  —  never !  But  if  we  live  in  the  house  with 
him  he  can't  hide  it.  And  all  Lent,  he  only  eats 
meat  on  Sundays,  and  other  days  —  he  wrote  down 

a  list Well,  it's  like  the  saints  —  that's  all !  —  I 

just  cried  over  it !  " 

Mrs.  Fountain  shook  with  the  emotion  of  saying 
such  things  to  Laura,  but  her  blue  eyes  flamed. 

"What!  fish  and  eggs?  — that  kind  of  thing?" 
said  Laura.  "As  if  there  was  any  hardship  in 
that ! " 

"Laura !  how  can  you  be  so  unkind  ?  —  I  must  just 
keep  it  all  to  myself. — I  wont  tell  you  anything!" 
cried  Augustina  in  exasperation. 

Laura  walked  away  to  the  window,  and  stood  look- 
ing out  at  the  March  buds  on  the  sycamores  shining 
above  the  river. 

"  Does  he  make  the  servants  fast  too  ?  "  she  asked 
presently,  turning  her  head  over  her  shoulder. 

"  No,  no,"  said  her  stepmother  eagerly ;  "  he's  never 
hard  to  them  —  only  to  himself.  The  Church  doesn't 
expect  anything  more  than  'abstinence,'  you  under- 
stand—  not  real  fasting  —  from  people  like  them  — 
people  who  work  hard  Avitli  their  hands.  But  —  I 
really  believe  —  they  do  very  much  as  he  does.     INIrs. 


VOI>.   I. 


66  HELBECK   OF  BANNISBALE 

Denton  seems  to  keep  the  house  on  nothing.  Oh ! 
and,  Laura — I  really  can't  be  always  having  extra 
things ! " 

Mrs.  Fountain  pushed  her  breakfast  away  from  her. 

"Please  remember  —  nobody  settles  anything  for 
themselves  —  in  your  Church,"  said  Laura.  "  You 
know  what  that  doctor  —  that  Catholic  doctor  —  said 
to  you  at  Folkestone." 

Mrs.  Fountain  sighed. 

"  And  as  to  Mrs.  Denton,  I  see  —  that  explains  the 
manners.     No  improvement  —  till  Lent's  over  ?  " 

"Laura!" 

But  her  stepdaughter,  who  was  at  the  window 
again  looking  out,  paid  no  heed,  and  presently  Augus- 
tina  said  with  timid  softness : 

"  Won't  you  have  .  your  breakfast,  Laura  ?  You 
know  it's  here  —  on  my  tray." 

Laura  turned,  and  Augustina  to  her  infinite  relief 
saw  not  frowns,  but  a  face  all  radiance. 

"  I've  been  watching  the  lambs  in  the  field  across 
the  river.  Such  ridiculous  enchanting  things !  —  such 
jumps  —  and  affectations.  And  the  river's  heavenly 
—  and  all  the  general  feel  of  it!  I  really  don't 
know,  Augustina,  how  you  ever  came  to  leave  this 
country  when  you'd  once  been  born  in  it." 

Mrs.  Fountain  pushed  away  her  tray,  shook  her 
head  sadly,  and  said  nothing. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  67 

"  What  is  it  ?  —  and  who  is  it  ?  "  cried.  Laura, 
standing  amazed  before  a  picture  in  the  drawing- 
room  at  Bannisdale. 

In  front  of  her,  on  the  panelled  wall,  hung  a  daz- 
zling portrait  of  a  girl  in  white,  a  creature  light  as 
a  flower  under  wind;  eyes  upraised  and  eager,  as 
though  to  welcome  a  lover;  fair  hair  bound  turban- 
like with  a  white  veil ;  the  pretty  hands  playing 
with  a  book.  It  shone  from  the  brown  wall  with 
a  kind  of  natural  sovereignty  over  all  below  it  and 
around  it,  so  brilliant  was  the  picture,  so  beautiful 
the  woman. 

Augustina  looked  up  drearily.  She  was  sitting 
shrunk  together  in  a  large  chair,  deep  in  some 
thoughts  of  her  own. 

"  That's  our  picture  —  the  famous  picture,"  she 
explained  slowly. 

"  Your  Romney  ? "  said  Laura,  vaguely  recalling 
some  earlier  talk  of  her  stepmother's. 

Augustina  nodded.  She  stared  at  the  picture  with 
a  curious  agitation,  as  though  she  were  seeing  its 
long  familiar  glories  for  the  first  time.  Laura  was 
much  puzzled  by  her. 

"  Well,  but  it's  magnificent ! "  cried  the  girl. 
"One  needn't  know  much  to  know  that.  How  can 
Mr.  Ilelbeck  call  himself  poor  while  he  possesses 
such  a  thing  ?  " 


08  PELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Augustina  started. 

''It's  worth  thousands,"  she  said  hastily.  "We 
know  that.  There  was  a  man  from  London  came 
once,  years  ago.  But  papa  turned  him  out  —  he 
would  never  sell  his  things.  And  she  was  our  great- 
grandmother." 

An  idea  flashed  through  Laura's  mind. 

"You  don't  mean  to  say  that  Mr.  Helbeck  is 
going  to  sell  her?"  said  Laura  impetuously.  "It 
would  be  a  shame  ! " 

"Alan  can  do  what  he  likes  with  anything,"  said 
Augustina  in  a  quick  resentment.  "And  he  wants 
money  badly  for  one  of  his  orphanages — some  of  it 
has  to  be  rebuilt.  Oh !  those  orphanages  —  how  they 
must  have  weighed  on  him  —  poor  Alan  !  —  poor  dear 
Alan  !  —  all  these  years  ! " 

Mrs.  Fountain  clasped  her  thin  hands  together, 
with  a  sigh. 

"  Is  it  they  that  have  eaten  up  the  house  bit  by  bit  ? 
—  poor  house  !  —  poor  dear  house  !  "  repeated  Laura. 

She  was  staring  with  an  angry  championship  at 
the  picture.  Its  sweet  confiding  air  —  as  of  one 
cradled  in  love,  happy  for  generations  in  the  homage 
of  her  kindred  and  the  shelter  of  the  old  house  — 
stood  for  all  the  natural  human  things  that  creeds 
•and  bigots  were  always  trampling  under  foot. 

Mrs.  Fountain,  however,  only  shook  her  head. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  6G 

"  I  don't  tliink  Alan's  settled  anything  yet.  Only 
JNIrs.  Denton's  afraid. — There  was  somebody  came 
to  see  it  a  few  days  ago " 

"  He  certainly  ought  not  to  sell  it,"  repeated  Laura 
with  emphasis.  "  He  has  to  think  of  the  people  that 
come  after.  What  Avill  they  care  for  orphanages  ? 
He  only  holds  the  picture  in  trust." 

"  There  will  be  no  one  to  come  after,"  said  Augus- 
tina  slowly.     "  For  of  course  he  will  never  marry." 

"  Is  he  too  great  a  saint  for  that  too  ? "  cried 
Laura.  "  Then  all  I  can  say,  Augustina,  is  that  — 
it — would  —  do  him  a  great  deal  of  good." 

She  beat  her  little  foot  on  the  ground  impatiently, 
pointing  the  words. 

"  You  don't  know  anything  about  him,  Laura,"  said 
Mrs.  Fountain,  with  an  attempt  at  spirit.  _  Then  she 
added  reproachfully:  "And  I'm  sure  he  wants  to  be 
kind  to  you." 

"  He  thinks  me  a  little  heretical  toad,  thank  you ! '" 
said  Laura,  spinning  round  on  the  bare  boards,  and 
dropping  a  curtsey  to  the  Komney.  '•  But  never 
mind,  Augustina  —  we  shall  get  on  quite  properly. 
Now,  aren't  there  a  great  many  more  rooms  to  see  ?  " 

Augustina  rose  uncei-tainly.  "There  is  the  chapel, 
of  course,"  she  said,  "and  Alan's  study " 

"Oh!  we  needn't  go  there,"  said  Laura  hastily. 
"  But  show  me  the  chapel." 


70  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Mr.  Helbeck  was  still  absent,  and  they  had  been 
exploring  Bannisdale.  It  was  a  melancholy  progress 
they  had  been  making  through  a  house  that  had  once 
—  when  Augustina  left  it  —  stood  full  of  the  hoard- 
ings and  the  treasures  of  generations,  and  was  now 
empty  and  despoiled. 

It  was  evident  that,  for  his  sister's  welcome,  Mr. 
Helbeck  had  gathered  into  the  drawing-room,  as  into 
her  bedroom  upstairs,  the  best  of  what  still  remained 
to  him.  Chairs  and  tables,  and  straight-lined  sofas, 
some  of  one  date,  some  of  another,  collected  from  the 
garrets  and  remote  corners  of  the  old  house,  and  cov- 
ered with  the  oddest  variety  of  faded  stuffs,  had  been 
stiffly  set  out  by  Mrs.  Denton  upon  an  old  Turkey 
carpet,  whereof  the  rents  and  patches  had  been 
concealed  as  much  as  possible.  Here  at  least  was 
something  of  a  cosmos  —  something  of  order  and  of 
comfort. 

The  hall  too,  and  the  dining-room,  in  spite  of  their 
poor  new  furnishings,  were  still  human  and  habita- 
ble. But  most  of  the  rooms  on  which  Laura  and 
Mrs.  Fountain  had  been  making  raid  were  like  that 
first  one  Laura  had  visited,  mere  homes  of  lumber 
and  desolation.  Blinds  drawn;  dust-motes  dancing 
in  the  stray  shafts  of  light  that  struck  across  the 
gloom  of  the  old  walls  and  floors.  Here  and  there 
some  lingering  fragment  of  fine  furniture;  but  as  a 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  71 

rule  bareness,  poverty,  and  void  —  nothing  could  be 
more  piteous,  or,  to  Mrs.  Fountain's  memory,  more 
surprising.  For  some  years  before  she  left  Bannis- 
dale,  her  father  had  not  known  where  to  turn  for  a 
pound  of  ready  money.  Yet  when  she  fled  from  it, 
the  house  and  its  treasures  were  still  intact. 

The  explanation  of  course  was  very  simple.  Alan 
Helbeck  had  been  living  upon  his  house,  as  upon 
any  other  capital.  Or  rather  he  had  been  making 
alms  of  it.  The  house  stood  gashed  and  bare  that 
Catholic  orphans  might  be  put  to  school  —  was  that 
it  ?  Laura  hardly  listened  to  Augustina's  plaintive 
babble  as  they  crossed  the  hall.  It  was  all  about 
Alan,  of  course  —  Alan's  virtues,  Alan's  charities. 
As  for  the  orphans,  the  girl  hated  the  thought  of 
them.  Grasping  little  wretches !  She  could  see  them 
all  in  a  sanctimonious  row,  their  eyes  cast  up,  and 
rosaries  —  like  the  one  Augustina  was  always  trying 
to  hide  from  her  —  in  their  ugly  little  hands. 

They  turned  down  a  long  stone  passage  leading 
to  the  chapel.  As  they  neared  the  chapel  door 
there  was  a  sound  of  voices  from  the  hall  at  their 
back. 

"  It's  Alan,"  said  Augustina  peering,  "  and  Father 
Bowles ! " 

She  hurried  back  to  meet  them,  skirts  and  cap 
strings  flying.     Laura  stood  still. 


72  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

But  after  a  few  words  with  liis  sister,  Helbeek 
came  up  to  his  guest  with  outstretched  hand. 

"  I  hope  we  have  uot  kept  you  waiting  for  dinner. 
May  I  introduce  Father  Bowles  to  you  ?  " 

Laura  bowed  with  all  the  stiffness  of  which  a  young 
back  is  capable.  She  saw  an  old  grey-haired  priest, 
with  a  round  face  and  a  pair  of  chubby  hands,  which 
he  constantly  held  crossed  or  clasped  upon  his  breast. 
His  long  irregular  mouth  seemed  to  fold  over  at  the 
corners  above  his  very  small  and  childish  chin.  The 
mouth  and  the  light  blue  eyes  wore  an  expression  of 
rather  mincing  gentleness.  His  short  figure,  though 
bent  a  little  with  years,  was  still  vigorous,  and  his 
gait  quick  and  bustling. 

He  addressed  Miss  Fountain  with  a  lisping  and 
rather  obsequious  politeness,  asking  a  great  many 
unnecessary  questions  about  her  journey  and  her 
arrival. 

Laura  answered  coldly.  But  when  he  passed  to 
Mrs.  Fountain,  Augustina  was  all  effusion. 

"  When  I  think  what  has  been  granted  to  us  since 
I  was  here  last ! "  she  said  to  the  priest  as  they 
moved  on,  —  clasping  her  hands,  and  flushing. 

"The  dear  Bishop  took  such  trouble  about  it,"  he 
said  in  a  little  murmuring  voice.  "It  was  not  easy 
—  but  the  Church  loves  to  content  her  children." 

Involuntarily  Laura  glanced  at  Helbeck. 


BEL  BECK  OF  BANNISDALE  73 

"My  sister  refers  to  the  permission  whicli  has 
been  granted  to  ns  to  reserve  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
in  the  chapel,"  he  said  gravely.  "  It  is  a  privilege  we 
never  enjoyed  till  last  year." 

Laura  made  no  reply. 

"  Shall  I  slip  away  ?  "  she  thoiight,  looking  round 
her. 

But  at  that  moment  Mr.  Helbeck  lifted  the  heavy 
latch  of  the  chapel  door ;  and  her  young  curiosity  was 
too  strong  for  her.     She  followed  the  others. 

Mr.  Helbeck  held  the  door  open  for  her. 

"  You  will  perhaps  care  to  look  at  the  frescoes,"  he 
said  to  her  as  she  hurried  past  him.  She  nodded, 
and  walked  quickly  away  to  the  left,  by  herself. 
Then  she  turned  and  looked  about  her. 

It  was  the  first  time  that  she  had  entered  a  Catholic 
church,  and  every  detail  was  new  to  her.  She 
watched  the  other  three  sign  themselves  with  holy 
water  and  drop  low  on  one  knee  before  the  altar.  So 
that  was  the  altar.  She  stared  at  it  with  a  scornful 
repugnance ;  yet  her  pulse  quickened  as  though  what 
she  saw  excited  her.  What  was  that  erection  above 
it,  with  a  veil  of  red  silk  drawn  round  it  —  and  why 
was  that  lamp  burning  in  front  of  it  ? 

She  recalled  Mr.  Helbeck's  words  —  "  permission  to 
reserve  the  Blessed  Sacrament."  Then,  in  a  flasli,  a 
hundred  vague  memories,  the  deposit   of   a  hearsay 


74  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

knowledge,  enlightened  her.  She  knew  and  remem. 
bered  much  less  than  any  ordinary  girl  would  have 
done.  But  still,  in  the  main,  she  guessed  at  what  was 
passing.  That  of  course  was  the  Sacrament,  before 
which  Mr.  Helbeck  and  the  others  were  kneeling !  — 
for  instinctively  she  felt  that  it  was  to  no  empty 
shrine  the  adoration  of  those  silent  figures  was  being 
offered. 

Fragments  from  Augustina's  talk  at  Folkestone 
came  back  to  her.  Once  she  had  overheard  some 
half-whisjjered  conversation  between  her  stepmother 
and  a  Catholic  friend,  from  which  she  had  vaguely 
understood  that  the  "Blessed  Sacrament"  was  kept 
in  the  Catholic  churches,  was  always  there,  and  that 
the  faithful  "visited"  it  —  that  these  "visits"  were 
indeed  specially  recommended  as  a  means  to  holiness. 
And  she  recalled  how,  as  they  came  home  from  their 
daily  walk  to  the  beach,  Mrs.  Fountain  would  disap- 
pear from  her,  through  the  shadowy  door  of  a  Catho- 
lic church  that  stood  in  the  same  street  as  their 
lodgings — how  she  would  come  home  half  an  hour 
afterwards,  shaken  with  fresh  ardours,  fresh  remorse. 

But  how  could  such  a  thing  be  allowed,  be  possi- 
ble, in  a  private  chapel  —  in  a  rooin  that  was  really 
part  of  a  private  house?  God  —  the  Christ  of  Cal- 
vary —  in  that  gilt  box,  upon  that  altar ! 

The  young  girl's  arms   fell   by  her  side  in  a  sud- 


HELBEL'K  OF  BANNISDALE  75 

den  rigidity.  A  wave  of  the  most  passionate  repul- 
sion swept  through  her.  What  a  gross,  what  an 
intolerable  superstition !  —  how  was  she  to  live  with 
it,  beside  it  ?  The  next  instant  it  Avas  as  though 
her  hand  clasped  her  father's  —  clinging  to  him 
proudly,  against  this  alien  world.  Why  should  she 
feel  lonely  ?  —  the  little  heretic,  left  standing  there 
alone  in  her  distant  corner.  Let  her  rather  rejoice 
that  she  was  her  father's  daughter ! 

She  drew  herself  up,  and  coolly  looked  about  her. 
The  worshippers  had  risen ;  long  as  the  time  had 
seemed  to  Laura,  they  had  only  been  two  or  three 
minutes  on  their  knees;  and  she  could  see  that  Au- 
gustina  Avas  talking  eagerly  to  her  brother,  pointing 
now  to  the  walls,  noAV  to  the  altar. 

It  seemed  as  though  Augustina  were  no  less  as- 
tonished than  her  stepdaughter  by  the  magnificence 
of  the  chapel.  Was  it  all  new,  —  the  frescoes,  the 
altar  Avith  its  marble  and  its  gold,  the  Avhite  figure 
of  the  Virgin,  Avhich  gleamed  above  the  small  side- 
altar  to  the  left  ?  It  had  the  air  of  newness  and  of 
costliness,  an  air  Avhich  struck  the  eye  all  the  more 
sharply  because  of  the  contrast  between  it  and  the 
penury,  the  starvation,  of  the  great  house  that  held 
the  chapel  in  its  breast. 

But  while  Laura  Avas  still  Avondering  at  the  gen- 
eral impression  of  rich  beauty,  at  the  Lenten  purple 


76  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

of  the  altar,  at  the  candelabra,  and  the  perfume, 
certain  figures  and  colours  on  the  wall  close  to  hei 
seized  her,  thrusting  the  rest  aside.  On  either  side 
of  the  altar,  the  walls  to  right  and  left,  from  the 
entrance  up  to  the  sanctuary,  Avere  covered  with 
what  appeared  to  be  recent  painting  —  painting,  in- 
deed, that  was  still  in  the  act.  On  either  hand,  long 
rows  of  life-sized  saints,  men  and  women,  turned 
their  adoring  faces  towards  the  Christ  looking  down 
upon  them  from  a  crucifix  above  the  tabernacle.  On 
the  north  wall,  about  half  the  row  was  unfinished ; 
faces,  haloes,  drapery,  strongly  outlined  in  red,  still 
waited  for  the  completing  hand  of  the  artist.  The 
rest  glowed  and  burned  with  colour  —  colour  the 
most  singular,  the  most  daring.  The  carnations  and 
rose  colours,  the  golds  anfl  purples,  the  blues  and 
lilacs  and  greens — ^in  the  whole  concert  of  tone,  in 
spite  of  its  general  simplicity  of  surface,  there  was 
something  at  once  ravishing  and  troubling,  something 
that  spoke  as  it  were  from  passion  to  passion. 

Laura's  nature  felt  the  thrill  of  it  at  once,  just  as 
she  had  felt  the  thrill  of  the  sunshine  lighting  wp 
the  tapestry  of  her  room. 

"  Why  isn't  it  crude  and  hideous  ? "  she  asked 
herself,  in  a  marvel.  ''But  it  isn't.  One  never  saw 
such  blues  —  except  in  the  sea  —  or  such  greens  — ■ 
and    rose !      And    the   angels    between !  —  and    the 


UELBECK  OF  BANJSflSDALE  77 

flowers   under   their    feet !  —  Heavens !   how   lovely  ! 
Who  did  it?" 

"  Do  you  admire  the  frescoes  ?  "  said  a  little  voice 
behind  her. 

She  turned  hastily,  and  saw  Father  Bowles  sniiU 
ing  upon  her,  his  plump  white  hands  clasped  in 
front  of  him,  as  usual.  It  was  an  attitude  which 
seemed  to  make  the  simplest  words  sound  intimate 
and  possessive.  Laura  shrank  from  it  in  quick  an- 
noyance. 

"  They  are  very  strange,  and  —  and  startling,"  she 
said  stiffly,  moving  as  far  away  from  the  grey-haired 
priest  as  possible.     "  Who  painted  them  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Helbeck  first  designed  them.  But  they  were 
carried  out  for  a  time  by  a  yoi;th  of  great  genius." 
Father  Bowles  dwelt  softly  upon  the  word  "^/e-nius," 
as  though  he  loved  it.  "  He  was  once  a  lad  from 
these  parts,  but  has  now  become  a  Jesuit.  So  the 
work  was  stopped." 

"  What  a  pity  ! "  said  Laura  impetuously.  "  He 
ought  to  have  been  a  painter." 

The  priest  smiled,  and  made  her. an  odd  littk^ 
bow.  Then,  without  saying  anything  more  about 
the  artist,  he  chattered  on  about  the  frescoes  and 
the  chapel,  as  though  he  had  beside  him  the  most 
sympathetic  of  listeners.  Nothing  tliat  ho  said  was 
the   least   interesting   or    striking ;  and   Laura,   in   a 


78  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

passion   of   silent    dislike,   kept   up   a   steady   move 
ment  towards  the  door  all  the  time. 

In  the  passage  outside  Mrs.  Fountain  was  linger- 
ing alone.  And  when  Laura  appeared  she  caught 
hold  of  her  stepdaughter  and  detained  her  while 
the  priest  passed  on.  Laura  looked  at  her  in  sur- 
prise, and  Mrs.  Fountain,  in  much  agitation, 
whispered  in  the  girl's  ear: 

"  Oh,  Laura  —  do  remember,  dear !  —  don't  ask 
Alan  about  those  pictures  —  those  frescoes  —  by 
young  Williams.  I  can  tell  you  some  time  —  and 
you  might  say  something  to  hurt  him  —  poor  Alan!" 

Laura  drew  herself  away. 

"Why  should  I  say  anything  to  hurt  him? 
What's  the  mystery?" 

"I  can't  tell  you  now"  —  Mrs.  Fountain  looked 
anxiously  towards  the  hall.  "People  have  been  so 
hard  on  Alan  —  so  unkind  about  it!  It's  been  a 
regular  persecution.  And  you  wouldn't  understand 
—  wouldn't  sympathise " 

"I  really  don't  care  to  know  about  it,  Augustina! 
And  I'm  so  hungry  —  famished!  Look,  there's  Mr. 
Helbeck  signing  to  us.     Joy  !  —  that's  dinner." 

-  Laura  expected  the  midday  meal  with  some 
curiosity.  But  she  saw  no  signs  of  austerity.  Mr. 
Helbeck  pressed  the  roast  chicken  on  Father  Bowles, 


HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE  79 

took  paius  that  lie  should  enjoy  a  better  bottle  of 
wine  than  usual,  and  as  to  himself  ate  and  drank 
very  moderately  indeed,  but  like  anybody  else. 
Laura  could  only  imagine  that  it  was  not  seemly  to 
outdo  your  priest. 

The  meal  of  course  was  served  in  the  simplest 
way,  and  all  the  waiting  was  done  by  Mr.  Helbeck, 
who  would  allow  nobody  to  help  him  in  the  task. 

The  conversation  dragged.  Laura  and  her  host 
talked  a  little  about  the  country  and  the  weather. 
Father  Bowles  and  Augustina  tried  to  pick  up  the 
dropped  threads  of  thirteen  years ;  and  Mrs.  Foun- 
tain was  alternately  eager  for  Whinthorpe  gossip, 
or  reduced  to  an  abrupt  unhappy  silence  by  some 
memory  of  the  past. 

Suddenly  Father  Bowles  got  up  from  his  chair, 
ran  across  the  room  to  the  window  with  his  nap- 
kin in  his  hand,  and  pounced  eagerly  upon  a  fly 
that  was  buzzing  on  the  pane.  Then  he  carefully 
opened  the  window,  and  flicked  the  dead  thing  off 
the  sill. 

''I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said  humbly  to  Mrs. 
Fountain  as  he  returned  to  his  seat.  "It  was  a 
nasty  fly.  I  can't  abide  'em.  I  always  think  of 
Beelzebub,  who  was  the  prince  of  the  flies." 

Laura's  mouth  twitched  with  laughter.  She  prom- 
ised herself  to    make    a    studv   of    Father    Bowles. 


80  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

And,  indeed,  lie  was  a  character  in  his  own  small 
way.  He  was  a  priest  of  an  old-fashioned  type, 
with  no  ]Dretensions  to  knowledge  or  to  manners. 
Wherever  he  went  he  was  a  meek  and  accommo- 
dating guest,  for  his  recollection  went  back  to 
days  when  a  priest  coming  to  a  private  house  to 
say  Mass  would  as  likely  as  not  have  his  meals  in 
the  pantry.  And  he  was  naturally  of  a  gentle  and 
yielding  temper  —  though  rather  sly. 

But  he  had  several  tricks  as  curious  as  they  were 
persistent.  Not  even  the  presence  of  his  bishoj) 
could  make  him  spare  a  bluebottle.  And  he  had, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  peculiar  passion  for  the  smell 
of  wax.  He  would  blow  out  a  candle  on  the  altar 
before  the  end  of  Mass  that  he  might  enjoy  the 
smell  of  it.  He  disliked  Jesuits,  and  religious 
generally,  if  the  truth  were  known;  excepting  only 
the  orphanage  nuns,  who  knew  his  weaknesses  and 
were  kind  to  them.  He  had  no  love  for  modern 
innovations,  or  modern  devotions ;  there  was  a  hid- 
den Galilean  strain  in  him ;  and  he  firmly  believed 
that  in  the  old  days  before  Catholic  emancipation, 
and  before  the  Oxford  movement,  the  Church  made 
more  converts  than  she  did  now. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  lunch  Laura  inquired  of 
Mr.  Helbeck  whether  any  conveyance  was  to  be  got 
in  the  village. 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  81 

"  I  wish  to  go  to  Browhead  Farm  tliis  afternoon," 
she  said  rather  shortly. 

"Certainly,"  said  Helbeck.  "Certainly.  I  will 
see  that  something  is  found  for  you." 

But  his  voice  had  no  cordiality,  and  Laura  at  once 
thought  him  ungracious. 

"Oh,  pray  don't  give  yourself  any  trouble,"  she 
said,  flushing,  "I  can  walk  to  the  village." 

Helbeck  paused. 

"  If  you  could  wait  till  to-morrow,"  he  said  after 
a  moment,  "  I  could  promise  you  the  pony.  Unfort- 
unately he  is  busy  this  afternoon." 

"  Oh,  do  wait,  Laura ! "  cried  Augustina.  "  There 
is  so  much  unpacking  to  do." 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  girl  unwillingly. 

As  she  turned  away  from  him  Helbeck's  look  fol- 
lowed her.  She  was  in  a  dress  of  black  serge,  which 
followed  the  delicate  girlish  frame  with  perfect  sim- 
plicity, and  was  relieved  at  the  neck  and  wrists  with 
the  plainest  of  white  collars  and  cuffs.  But  there 
was  something  so  brilliant  in  the  hair,  so  fawnlike 
in  the  carriage  of  the  head,  that  she  seemed  to 
Helbeck  to  be  all  elegance ;  had  he  been  asked  to 
describe  her,  he  woidd  have  said  she  was  in  grande 
toilette.  Little  as  he  spoke  to  her,  he  found  himself 
perpetually  conscious  of  her.  Her  evident  —  child- 
ishly evident  —  dislike  of  her  new  surroundings  half 

VOL.    I.  G 


82  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

amused,  half  embarrassed  him.  He  did  not  know 
what  topic  to  start  with  her ;  soon,  perhaps,  he  might 
have  a  difficulty  in  keeping  the  peace !  It  was  all 
very  absurd. 

After  luncheon  they  gathered  in  the  hall  for  a 
while,  Father  Bowles  talking  eagerly  with  Helbeck 
and  Augustina  about  "  orphans  "  and  "  new  buildings." 
Laura  stood  apart  awhile  —  then  went  for  her  hat. 

When  she  reappeared,  in  walking  dress  —  with 
Fricka  at  her  heels  —  Helbeck  opened  the  heavy 
outer  door  for  her. 

"May  I  have  Bruno?"  she  said. 

Helbeck  turned  and  whistled. 

"  You  are  not  afraid  ?  "  he  said,  smiling,  and  look- 
ing at  Fricka. 

"  Oh,  dear  no !  I  spent  an  hour  this  morning  intro- 
ducing them." 

At  that  moment  Bruno  came  bounding  up.  He 
looked  from  his  master  to  Laura  in  her  hat,  and 
seemed  to  hesitate.  Then,  as  she  descended  ^  the 
steps,  he  sprang  after  her.  Laura  began  to  run; 
the  two  dogs  leapt  about  her ;  her  light  voice,  check- 
ing or  caressing,  came  back  to  Helbeck  on  the  spring 
wind.  He  watched  her  and  her  companions  so  long 
as  they  were  in  sight  —  the  golden  hair  among  the 
trees,  the  dancing  steps  of  the  girl,  the  answering 
frolic  of  the  dogs. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  83 

Then  he  turned  back  to  his  sister,  his  grave  mouth 
twitching. 

"  How  thankful  she  is  to  get  rid  of  us  I " 

He  laughed  out.  The  priest  laughed,  too,  more 
softly, 

"  It  was  the  first  time,  I  presume,  that  Miss  Foun- 
tain had  ever  been  within  a  Catholic  church  ? "  he 
said  to  Augustina. 

Augustina  flushed. 

"  Of  course  it  is  the  first  time.  Oh !  Alan,  you 
can't  think  how  strange  it  is  to  her." 

She  looked  rather  piteously  at  her  brother. 

"  So  I  perceive,"  he  said.  "  You  told  me  something, 
but  I  had  not  realised " 

''You  see,  Alan  — "  cried  Augustina,  watching  her 
brother's  face,  —  "  it  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  her  mother  got  Stephen  to  consent  even  to  her 
being  baptized.     He  opposed  it  for  a  long  time." 

Father  Bowles  murmured  something  under  his 
breath. 

Helbeck  paused  for  a  moment,  then  said : 

*'  What  was  her  mother  like  ?  " 

"Everyone  at  Cambridge  used  to  say  she  was  *a 
sweet  woman '  —  but  —  but  Stephen,  —  well,  you  know, 
Alan,  Stephen  always  had  his  way !  I  always  Avonder 
she  managed  to  persuade  him  about  the  baptism." 

She  coloured  still  more  deeply  as  she  spoke,  and  her 


84  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

nervous  infirmity  became  more  pronounced.  Alas  !  it 
was  not  only  with  the  first  wife  that  Stephen  had  had 
his  way!  Her  own  marriage  had  begun  to  seem  to 
her  a  mere  sinful  connection.  Poor  soul  —  poor 
Augustina ! 

Her  brother  must  have  divined  something  of  what 
was  passing  in  her  mind,  for  he  looked  down  upon  her 
with  a  peculiar  gentleness. 

"People  are  perhaps  more  ready  to  talk  of  that 
responsibility  than  to  take  it,"  he  said  kindly.  "  But, 
Augustina,  —  "  his  voice  changed,  —  "  how  pretty  she 
is !  —     You  hardly  prepared  me " 

Father  Bowles  modestly  cast  down  his  eyes.  These 
were  not  questions  that  concerned  him.  But  Helbeck 
went  on,  speaking  with  decision,  and  looking  at  his 
sister : 

"I  confess  —  her  great  attractiveness  makes  me  a 
little  anxious  —  about  the  connection  with  the  Masons. 
Have  you  ever  seen  any  of  them,  Augustina  ?  " 

No  —  Augustina  had  seen  none  of  them.  She  be- 
lieved Stephen  had  particularly  disliked  the  mother, 
the  widow  of  his  cousin,  who  now  owned  the  farm 
jointly  with  her  son. 

"Well,  no,"  said  Helbeck  dryly,  "I  don't  suppose 
he  and  she  would  have  had  much  in  common." 

"  Isn't  she  a  dreadful  Protestant  —  Alan  ?  " 

"  Oh,  she's  just  a  specimen  of  the  ordinary  English 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  85 

Bible-worship  run  mad,"  lie  said  carelessly.  "  She  is 
a  strange  woman,  ver}^  well  known  about  here.  And 
there's  a  foolish  parson  living  near  them,  np  in  the 
hills,  who  makes  her  worse.  But  it's  the  son  I'm 
thinking  of." 

"  Why,  Alan  —  isn't  he  respectable  ?  " 

"Not  particularly.  He's  a  splendid  athletic  fel- 
low—  doing  his  best  to  make  himself  a  blackguard, 
I'm  afraid.  I've  come  across  him  once  or  twice,  as 
it  happens.  He's  not  a  desirable  cousin  for  Miss 
Pountain  —  that  I  can  vouch  for !  And  unluckily," 
he  smiled,  "Miss  Fountain  won't  hear  any  good  of 
this  house  at  Browhead  Farm." 

Even  Augustina  drew  herself  up  proudly. 

"My  dear  Alan,  what  does  it  matter  what  that 
sort  of  people  think  ?  " 

He  shook  his  head. 

"  It's  a  queer  business.  They  were  mixed  up  with 
young  Williams." 

Augustina  started. 

"  Mrs.  Mason  was  a  great  friend  of  his  mother,  who 
died.     They  hate  me  like  poison.     However " 

The  priest  interposed. 

"Mrs.  Mason  is  a  very  violent,  a  most  unseemly 
woman,"  he  said,  in  his  mincing  voice.  "And  the 
father  —  the  old  man  —  who  is  now  dead,  was  con- 
cerned in  the  rioting  near  the  bridge " 


86  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISUALE 

"  When  Alan  was  struck  ?  Mrs.  Denton  told  me ! 
How  abominable  ! " 

Augustina  raised  her  hands  in  mingled  reprobation 
and  distress. 

Helbeck  looked  annoyed. 

"That  doesn't  matter  one  brass  farthing,"  he  said, 
in  some  haste.  "Father  Bowles  was  much  worse 
treated  than  I  on  that  occasion.  But  you  see  the 
whole  thing  is  unlucky  —  it  makes  it  difficult  to  give 
Miss  Fountain  the  hints  one  would  like  to  give  her." 

He  threw  himself  down  beside  his  sister,  talking 
to  her  in  low  tones.  Father  Bowles  took  up  the  local 
paper. 

Presently  Augustina  broke  out  —  with  another 
wringing  of  the  hands. 

"  Don't  put  it  on  me,  my  dear  Alan !  I  tell  you  — 
Laura  has  always  done  exactly  what  she  liked  since 
she  was  a  baby." 

Mr.  Helbeck  rose.  His  face  and  air  already  ex- 
pressed a  certain  haughtiness ;  and  at  his  sister's 
words  there  was  a  very  definite  tightening  of  the 
shoulders. 

"  I  do  not  intend  to  have  Hubert  Mason  hanging 
about  the  house,"  he  said  quietly,  as  he  thrust  his 
hands  into  his  pockets. 

"  Of  course  not !  —  but  she  wouldn't  expect  it," 
cried  Augustina  in  dismay.     "It's   the   keeping   her 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  87 

away  from  them,  that's  the  difficulty.  She  thinks 
so  much  of  her  cousins,  Alan.  They're  her  father's 
only  relations.  I  know  she'll  want  to  be  with  them 
half  her  time  ! " 

"  For  love  of  them  —  or  dislike  of  us  ?  Oh !  I 
dare  say  it  will  be  all  right,"  he  added  abruptly. 
"  Father  Bowles,  shall  I  drive  you  half-waj  ?  The 
pony  w'ill  be  round  directly." 


CHAPTER   IV 

It  "was  a  Sunday  morning  —  bright  and  windy. 
Miss  Fountain  was  driving  a  shabby  pony  through 
the  park  of  Bannisdale  —  driving  with  a  haste  and 
glee  that  sent  the  little  cart  spinning  down  the  road. 

Six  hours  —  she  calculated  —  till  she  need  see  Ban- 
nisdale again.  Her  cousins  would  ask  her  to  dinner 
and  to  tea.  Augustina  and  Mr.  Helbeck  might  have 
all  their  Sunday  antics  to  themselves.  There  were 
several  priests  coming  to  luncheon  —  and  a  function 
in  the  chapel  that  afternoon.  Laura  flicked  the  pony 
sharply  as  she  thought  of  it.  Seven  miles  between 
her  and  it  ?     Joy ! 

Nevertheless,  she  did  not  get  rid  of  the  old  house 
and  its  suggestions  quite  as  easily  as  she  wished. 
The  park  and  the  river  had  many  windings.  Again 
and  again  the  grey  gabled  mass  thrust  itself  upon  her 
attention,  recalling  each  time,  against  her  will,  the 
face  of  its  owner. 

A  high  brow  —  hollows  in  the  temples,  deep  hol- 
lows in  the  cheeks  —  pale  blue  eyes  —  a  short  and 
pointed  beard,  greyish-black  like  the  hair  —  the  close 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  89 

whiskers  black,  too,  against  tlie  skin  —  a  general  im- 
pression of  pallor,  dark  lines,  strong  shadows,  melan- 
choly force  — 

She  burst  out  laughing. 

A  pose  !  —  nothing  in  the  world  but  a  pose.  There 
was  a  wretched  picture  of  Charles  I.  in  the  dining- 
room —  a  daub  ''after"  some  famous  thing,  she  sup- 
posed—  all  eyes  and  hair,  long  face,  and  lace  collar. 
Mr,  Helbeck  was  "made  up"  to  that  —  she  was  sure 
of  it.  He  had  found  out  the  likeness,  and  improved 
upon  it.  Oh !  if  one  could  only  present  him  with 
the  collar  and  blue  ribbon  complete! 

"  —  Cut  his  head  off,  and  have  done  with  him ! " 
she  said  aloud,  whipping  up  the  pony,  and  laugh- 
ing at  her  own  petulance. 

Who  could  live  in  such  a  house  —  such  an  at- 
mosphere ? 

As  she  drove  along,  her  mind  was  all  in  a  pro- 
testing whirl.  On  her  return  from  her  walk  with 
the  dogs  the  day  before,  she  had  found  a  service 
going  on  in  the  cliapel,  Father  Bowles  officiating, 
and  some  figures  in  black  gowns  and  white-winged 
coifs  assisting.  She  had  fled  to  her  own  room,  but 
when  she  came  down  again,  the  black-garbed  ''Sis- 
ters" were  still  there,  and  she  had  been  introduced 
to  them.  Ugh !  what  manners !  Must  one  always, 
if   one    was    a    Catholic,    make    that   cloying,    hypo- 


90  HELBECE   OF  BANNI8DALE 

critical  impression  ?  "  Three  of  them  kissed  me/* 
she  reminded  herself,  in  a  quiver  of  wrath. 

They  were  Sisters  from  the  orphanage  appar- 
ently, or  one  of  the  orphanages,  and  there  had  been 
endless  talk  of  new  buildings  and  money,  while  she, 
Laura,  sat  dumb  in  her  corner  looking  at  old  pho- 
tographs of  the  house.  Helbeck,  indeed,  had  not 
talked  much.  While  the  black  women  were  chat- 
tering with  Augustina  and  Father  Bowles,  he  had 
stood,  mostly  silent,  under  the  picture  of  his  great- 
grandmother,  only  breaking  through  his  reverie 
from  time  to  time  to  ask  or  answer  a  question. 
Was  he  pondering  the  sale  of  the  great-grand- 
mother, or  did  he  simply  know  that  his  silence  and 
aloofness  were  picturesque,  that  they  compelled 
other  people's  attention,  and  made  him  the  centre 
of  things  more  effectively  than  more  ordinary  man- 
ners could  have  done?  In  recalling  him  the  girl 
had  an  impatient  sense  of  something  commanding; 
of  something,  moreover,  that  held  herself  under 
observation.  "One  thinks  him  shy  at  first,  or 
awkward  —  nothing  of  the  sort!  He  is  as  proud 
as  Lucifer.  Very  soon  one  sees  that  he  is  just 
looking  out  for  his  own  way  in  everything. 

"  And  as  for  temper ! " 

After  the  Sisters  departed,  a  young  architect  had 
appeared    at    supper.      A    j^oint    of    difference    had 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  91 

arisen  between  liim  and  Mr.  Helbeck.  He  was  to 
be  employed,  it  appeared,  in  the  enlargement  of 
this  blessed  orphanage.  IVIr.  Helbeck,  no  doubt, 
with  a  view  to  his  pocket  —  to  do  him  justice,  there 
seemed  to  be  no  other  pocket  concerned  than  his  — 
was  of  opinion  that  certain  existing  buildings  could 
be  made  use  of  in  the  new  scheme.  The  architect 
—  a  nervous  young  fellow,  with  awkward  manners, 
and  the  ambitions  of  an  artist  —  thought  not,  and 
held  his  own,  insistently.  The  discussion  grew  ve- 
hement.    Suddenly  Helbeck  lost  his  temper. 

"Mr.  Munsey!  I  must  ask  you  to  give  more 
weight,  if  you  please,  to  my  wishes  in  this  matter! 
They  may  be  right  or  wrong  —  but  it  would  save 
time,  perhaps,  if  we  assumed  that  they  would 
prevail." 

The  note  of  anger  in  the  voice  made  every  one 
look  up.  The  Squire  stood  erect  a  moment;  crum- 
pled in  his  hand  a  half-sheet  of  paper  on  which 
young  Munsey  had  been  making  some  calculations, 
and  flung  it  into  the  fire.  Augustina  sat  cowering. 
The  young  man  himself  turned  "white,  bowed,  and 
said  nothing.  AVhile  Father  Bowles,  of  course,  like 
the  old  tabby  that  he  was,  had  at  once  begun  to 
purr  conciliation. 

"Would  T  liave  stood  meek  and  mum  if  I'd  been 
the  young  man !  "  thought  Laura.     ''  Would  I !     Oh ! 


92  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

if  I'd  had  tlie  chance!  And  he  shoukl  not  have 
made  up  so  easily,  either." 

For  she  remembered,  also,  how,  after  Father  Bowles 
was  gone,  she  had  come  in  from  the  garden  to  find 
Mr.  Helbeck  and  the  architect  pacing  the  long 
hall  together,  on  what  seemed  to  be  the  friendliest 
of  terms.  For  nearly  an  hour,  while  she  and  Augus- 
tiua  sat  reading  over  the  lire,  the  colloquy  went  on. 

Helbeck's  tones  then  were  of  the  gentlest;  the 
young  man  too  spoke  low  and  eagerly,  pressing  his 
plans.  And  once  when  Laura  looked  up  from  her 
book,  she  had  seen  Helbeck's  arm  resting  for  a 
moment  on  the  young  fellow's  shoulder.  Oh !  no 
doubt  Mr.  Helbeck  could  make  himself  agreeable 
when  he  chose  —  and  struggling  architects  must  put 
up  with  the  tempers  of  their  employers. 

All  the  more  did  Miss  Fountain  like  to  think 
that  the  Squire  could  compel  no  court  from  her. 

She  recalled  that  when  Mr.  Munsey  had  said 
good-night,  and  they  three  were  alone  in  the  firelit 
hall,  Helbeck  had  come  to  stand  beside  her.  He 
had  looked  down  upon  her  with  an  air  which  was 
either  kindness  or  weariness ;  he  had  been  willing 
—  even,  she  thought,  anxious  to  talk  with  her.  But 
she  did  not  mean  to  be  first  trampled  on,  then  patron- 
ised, like  the  young  man.  So  Mr.  Helbeck  had 
hardly  begun  —  with  that  occasional  timidity  which 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  93 

sat  so  oddly  on  liis  dark  and  strong  physique  —  to 
speak  to  her  of  the  two  Sisters  of  Charity  who  had 
been  his  guests  in  the  afternoon,  when  she  abruptly 
discovered  it  was  time  to  say  good-night.  She  winced 
a  little  as  she  remembered  the  sudden  stiffening  of 
his  look,  the  careless  touch  of  his  hand. 

The  day  was  keen  and  clear.  A  nipping  wind 
blew  beneath  the  bright  sun,  and  the  opening  buds 
had  a  parched  and  hindered  look.  But  to  Laura  the 
air  was  wine,  and  the  country  all  delight.  She  was 
mounting  the  flank  of  a  hill  towards  a  straggling 
village.  Straight  along  the  face  of  the  hill  lay  her 
road,  past  the  villages  and  woods  that  clothed  the 
hill  slope,  till  someone  should  show  her  the  gate 
beyond  which  lay  the  rough  ascent  to  Browhead 
Farm. 

Above  hex-,  now,  to  her  right,  rose  a  craggy  fell 
with  great  screes  plunging  sheer  down  into  the  woods 
that  sheltered  the  village ;  below,  in  the  valley-plain, 
stretched  the  purples  and  greens  of  the  moss ;  the 
rivers  shone  in  the  sun  as  they  came  speeding  from 
the  mountains  to  the  sea;  and  in  the  far  distance 
the  heights  of  Lakeland  made  one  pageant  with  the 
sun  and  the  clouds  —  peak  after  peak  thrown  blue 
against  the  white,  cloud  after  cloud  breaking  to 
show   the   dappled   hills   below,  in  such   a   glory  of 


94  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

silver  and  of  purple,  such,  a  freshness  of  atmosphere 
and  light,  that  mere  looking  soon  became  the  most 
thrilling,  the  most  palpable  of  joys.  Laura's  spirits 
began  to  sing  and  soar,  with  the  larks  and  the 
blackcaps ! 

Then,  when  the  village  was  gone,  came  a  high 
stretch  of  road,  looking  down  upon  the  moss  and  all 
its  bounding  fells,  which  ran  out  upon  its  purple 
face  like  capes  upon  a  sea.  And  these  nearer  fields 
—  what  were  these  thick  white  specks  upon  the  new- 
made  furrows  ?  Up  rose  the  gulls  for  answer ;  and 
the  girl  felt  the  sea-breath  from  their  dazzling  wings, 
and  turned  behind  her  to  look  for  that  pale  opening 
in  the  south-west  through  which  the  rivers  passed. 

And  beyond  the  fields  a  wood  —  such  a  wood  as 
made  Laura's  south-country  eyes  stand  wide  with 
wonder!  Out  she  jumped,  tied  the  pony's  rein  to 
a  gate  beside  the  road,  and  ran  into  the  hazel  brush- 
wood with  little  cries  of  pleasure.  A  Westmoreland 
wood  in  daffodil  time  —  it  was  nothing  more  and 
nothing  less.  But  to  this  child  with  the  young 
passion  in  her  blood,  it  was  a  dream,  an  ecstasy. 
The  golden  flowers,  the  slim  stalks,  rose  from  a 
mist  of  greenish-blue,  made  by  their  speary  leaf 
amid  the  encircling  browns  and  purples,  the  intri- 
cate stem  and  branch-work  of  the  still  winter-bound 
hazels.    Never  were  daffodils  in  such  a  wealth  before ! 


UELBECK  OF  BANJSflSDALE  95 

They  were  flung  on  the  fell-side  through  a  score  of 
acres,  in  sheets  and  tapestries  of  gold,  —  such  an 
audacious,  unreckoned  plenty  as  went  strangely  with 
the  frugal  air  and  temper  of  the  northern  country, 
with  the  bare  walled  fields,  the  ruggedness  of  the 
crags  above,  and  the  melancholy  of  the  treeless  marsh 
below.  And  within  this  common  lavishness,  all  pos- 
sible delicacy,  all  possible  perfection  of  the  separate 
bloom  and  tuft  —  each  foot  of  ground  had  its  oavu 
glory.  For  below  the  daffodils  there  was  a  carpet  of 
dark  violets,  so  dim  and  close  that  it  was  their  scent 
first  bewrayed  them ;  and  as  Laura  lay  gathering  with 
her  face  among  the  flowers,  she  could  see  behind 
their  gold,  and  between  the  hazel  stems,  the  light- 
filled  greys  and  azures  of  the  mountain  distance. 
Each  detail  in  the  happy  whole  struck  on  the  girl's 
eager  sense  and  made  there  a  poem  of  northern 
spring  —  spring  as  the  fell-country  sees  it,  pure,  cold, 
expectant,  with  flashes  of  a  blossoming  beauty  amid 
the  rocks  and  pastures,  unmatched  for  daintiness  and 

joy- 
Presently  Laura  found  herself  sitting  —  half  cry- 
ing !  —  on  a  mossy  tuft,  looking  along  the  wood  to 
the  distance.  What  was  it  in  this  exquisite  country 
that  seized  upon  her  so  —  that  spoke  to  her  in  this 
intimate,  this  appealing  voice  ? 

Why,  she  was  of  it  —  she  belonged  to  it  —  she  felt 


96  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

it  in  lier  veins  !  Old  inherited  things  leapt  within 
her  —  or  it  pleased  her  to  think  so.  It  was  as  though 
she  stretched  out  her  arms  to  the  mountains  and 
fields,  crying  to  them,  "  I  am  not  a  stranger  —  draw 
me  to  you  —  my  life  sprang  from  yours!"  A  host 
of  burning  and  tender  thoughts  ran  through  her. 
Their  first  effect  was  to  remind  her  of  the  farm  and 
of  her  cousins ;  and  she  sprang  up,  and  went  back 
to  the  cart. 

On  they  rattled  again,  downhill  through  the  wood, 
and  up  on  the  further  side  —  still  always  on  the  edge 
of  the  moss.  She  loved  the  villages,  and  their  med- 
ley of  grey  houses  wedged  among  the  rocks ;  she 
loved  the  stone  farms  with  their  wide  porches,  and 
the  white  splashes  on  their  grey  fronts  ;  she  loved 
the  tufts  of  fern  in  the  wall  crannies,  the  limestone 
ribs  and  bonework  of  the  land  breaking  everywhere 
through  the  pastures,  the  incomparable  purples  of 
the  woods,  and  the  first  brave  leafing  of  the  larches 
and  the  sycamores.  Never  had  she  so  given  her 
heart  to  any  new  world ;  and  through  her  delight 
flashed  the  sorest,  tenderest  thoughts  of  her  father. 
"  Oh  !  papa  —  oh,  papa  !  "  she  said  to  herself  again 
and  again  in  a  little  moan.  Every  day  perhaps  he 
had  walked  this  road  as  a  child,  and  she  could  still 
see  herself  as  a  child,  in  a  very  dim  vision,  trotting 
beside  him  down  the  Browhead  Road.     She  turned 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  97 

at  last  into  the  fell-gate  to  wlncli  a  passing  boy 
directed  her,  with  a  long  breath  that  was  almost  a 
sob. 

She  had  given  them  no  notice;  but  surely,  surely 
they  would  be  glad  to  see  her  ! 

Tliey  ?  She  tried  to  split  up  the  notion,  to  imagine 
the  three  people  she  was  going  to  see.  Cousin  Eliza- 
beth —  the  mother  ?  Ah !  she  knew  her,  for  they 
had  never  liked  Cousin  Elizabeth.  She  herself  could 
dimly  remember  a  hard  face;  an  obstinate  voice 
raised  in  discussion  with  her  father.  Yet  it  was 
Cousin  Elizabeth  who  was  the  Fountain  born,  who 
had  carried  the  little  family  property  as  her  dowry 
to  her  hvisband  James  Mason.  For  the  grandfather 
had  been  free  to  leave  it  as  he  chose,  and  on  the 
death  of  his  eldest  son  —  who  had  settled  at  the  farm 
after  his  marriage,  and  taken  the  heavy  work  of  it 
off  his  father's  shoulders  —  the  old  man  had  passion- 
ately preferred  to  leave  it  to  the  strong,  capable 
granddaughter,  who  was  already  provided  with  a 
lover,  who  understood  the  land,  moreover,  and  could 
earn  and  "  addle  "  as  he  did,  rather  than  to  his  book- 
ish milksop  of  a  second  son,  so  richly  provided  for 
already,  in  his  father's  contemptuous  opinion,  by  the 
small  government  post  at  Newcastle. 

"Let  us  always  thank  God,  Laura,  that  my  grand- 

VOL.   I.  — 11 


98  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

fatlier  was  a  brute  to  yours ! "  Stephen  Fountain 
would  say  to  his  girl  on  the  rare  occasions  when  he 
could  be  induced  to  speak  of  his  family  at  all.  "  But 
for  that  I  might  be  a  hedger  and  ditcher  to  this  day." 

Well,  but  Cousin  Elizabeth's  children  ?  Laura  her- 
self had  some  vague  remembrance  of  them.  As  the 
pony  climbed  the  steep  lane  she  shut  her  eyes  and  tried 
hard  to  recall  them.  The  fair-haired  boy  —  rather  fat 
and  masterful  —  who  had  taken  her  to  find  the  eggs 
of  a  truant  hen  in  a  hedge  behind  the  house  —  and 
had  pushed  her  into  a  puddle  on  the  way  home  be- 
cause she  had  broken  one  ?  Then  the  girl,  the  older 
girl  Polly,  who  had  cleaned  her  shoes  for  her,  and 
lent  her  a  pinafore  ?  No !  Laura  opened  her  eyes 
again  —  it  was  no  good  straining  to  remember.  Too 
many  years  had  rolled  between  that  early  visit  and 
her  present  self  —  years  during  which  there  had  been 
no  communication  of  any  sort  between  Stephen  Foun- 
tain and  his  cousins. 

Why  had  Augustina  been  so  trying  and  tiresome 
about  the  Masons  ?  Instead  of  flying  to  her  cousins 
on  the  earliest  possible  opportunity,  here  was  a  whole 
fortnight  gone  since  her  arrival,  and  it  Avas  not  till 
this  Sunday  morning  that  Laura  had  been  able  to 
achieve  her  visit.  Augustina  had  been  constantly 
ailing  or  fretful ;  either  unwilling  to  be  left  alone,  or 
possessed  by  absurd  desires  for  useless  trifles,  only  to 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  99 

be  satisfied  by  Laura's  going  to  shop  in  Whinthorpe. 
And  such  melancholy  looks  whenever  the  Masons 
were  mentioned  —  coupled  Avith  so  formal  a  silence 
on  Mr.  Helbeck's  part !  What  did  it  all  mean  ?  No 
doubt  her  relations  were  vulgar,  low-born  folk !  —  but 
she  did  not  ask  Mr.  Helbeck  or  her  stepmother  to 
entertain  them.  At  last  there  had  been  a  passage  of 
arms  between  her  and  her  stepmother.  Perhaps  Mr. 
Helbeck  had  overheard  it,  for  immediately  afterwards 
he  had  emerged  from  his  study  into  the  hall,  where 
she  and  Augustina  were  sitting. 

"  Miss  Fountain  —  may  I  ask  —  do  you  wish  to  be 
sent  into  Whinthorpe  on  Simday  morning  ? " 

She  had  fronted  him  at  once. 

"  No,  thank  you,  Mr.  Helbeck.  I  don't  go  to  church 
—  I  never  did  with  papa." 

Had  she  been  defiant  ?     He  surely  had  been  stifP. 

"Then,  perhaps  you  would  like  the  pony  —  for 
your  visit  ?  He  is  quite  at  your  service  for  the  day. 
Would  that  suit  you  ?  " 

"Perfectly." 

So  here  she  was  —  at  last !  —  climbing  up  and  up 
into  the  heart  of  the  fells.  The  cloud-pageant  round 
the  high  mountains,  the  valley  with  its  flashing 
streams,  its  distant  sands,  and  widening  sea  —  she 
had   risen   as   it   seemed   above   them    all;    they  lay 


100  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

beneath  lier  in  a  map-like  unity.  She  couhl  have 
laughed  ami  sung  out  of  sheer  physical  joy  in  the 
dancing  air  —  in  the  play  of  the  cloud  gleams  and 
shadows  as  they  swept  across  her,  chased  by  the 
wind.  All  about  her  the  little  mountain  sheep  were 
feeding  in  the  craggy  "  intaks  "  or  along  the  edges  of 
the  tiny  tumbling  streams ;  and  at  intervals  amid  the 
reds  and  yellows  of  the  still  wintry  grass  rose  great 
wind-beaten  hollies,  sharp  and  black  against  the  blue 
distance,  marching  beside  her,  like  scattered  soldiers, 
up  the  height. 

Not  a  house  to  be  seen,  save  on  the  far  slopes 
of  distant  hills  —  not  a  sound,  but  the  chink  of  the 
stone-chat,  or  the  fall  of  lonely  water. 

Soon  the  road,  after  its  long  ascent,  began  to  dip ;  a 
few  trees  appeared  in  a  hollow,  then  a  gate  and  some 
grey  walls. 

Laura  jumped  from  the  cart.  Beyond  the  gate, 
the  road  turned  downward  a  little,  and  a  great  block 
of  barns  shut  the  farmhouse  from  view  till  she  was 
actually  upon  it. 

But  there  it  was  at  last  —  the  grey,  roughly  built 
house,  that  she  still  vaguely  remembered,  with  the 
whitewashed  porch,  the  stables  and  cowsheds  oppo- 
site, the  little  garden  to  the  side,  the  steep  fell 
behind 

She  stood  with  her  hand  on  the  pony,  looking  at 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  101 

tlie  house  in  some  perplexity.  Not  a  soul  apparently 
had  heard  her  coming.  Nothing  moved  in  the  farm- 
house or  outside  it.  Was  everybody  at  church  ? 
But  it  was  nearly  one  o'clock. 

The  door  under  the  deep  porch  had  no  knocker, 
and  she  looked  in  vain  for  a  bell.  All  she  could  do 
was  to  rap  sharply  with  the  handle  of  her  whip. 

No  answer.  She  rapped  again  —  louder  and  louder. 
At  last  in  the  intervals  of  knocking,  she  became  con- 
scious of  a  sound  within  —  something  deep  and  con- 
tinuous, like  the  buzzing  of  a  gigantic  bee. 

She  put  her  ear  to  the  door,  listening.  Then  all 
her  face  dissolved  in  laughter.  She  raised  her  arm 
and  brought  the  whip-handle  down  noisily  on  the  old 
blistered  door,  so  that  it  shook  again. 

"Hallo!" 

There  was  a  sudden  sound  of  chairs  overturned,  or 
dragged  along  a  flagged  floor.  Then  staggering  steps 
—  and  the  door  was  opened. 

"  I  say  —  what's  all  this  —  what  are  you  making 
such  a  damned  noise  for  ?  " 

Inside  stood  a  stalwart  young  man,  still  half 
asleep,  and  drawing  his  hand  irritably  across  his 
blinking  eyes. 

"  How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Mason  ? " 

The  young  man  drew  himself  together  with  a 
start.     Suddenly  he   perceived   that   the   young   girl 


102  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

standing  in  the  shade  of  the  porch  was  not  his  sister, 
bnt  a  stranger.     He  looked  at  her  with  astonishment, 

—  at  the  elegance  of  her  dress,  and  the  neatness  of 
her  small  gloved  hand. 

"  I  beg  yonr  pardon,  Miss,  I'm  snre !  Did  you 
want  anything  ?  " 

The  visitor  laughed.  "  Yes,  I  want  a  good  deal ! 
I  came  up  to  see  my  cousins  —  you're  my  cousin  — 
though  of  course  you  don't  remember  me.     I  thought 

—  perhaps  —  you'd  ask  me  to  dinner." 

The  young  man's  yawns  ceased.  He  stared  with 
all  his  eyes,  instinctively  putting  his  hair  and  collar 
straight. 

"Well,  I'm  afraid  I  don't  know  who  you  are, 
Miss,"  he  said  at  last,  putting  out  his  hand  in  per- 
plexity to  meet  hers.     "  Will  you  walk  in  ?  " 

"  Not  before  you  know  who  I  am  !  "  —  said  Laura, 
still  laughing  —  "  I'm  Laura  Fountain.  Now  do  you 
know  ?  " 

"  What  —  Stephen  Fountain's  daughter  —  as  mar- 
ried Miss  Helbeck?"  said  the  young  man  in  wonder. 
His  face,  which  had  been  at  first  vague  and  heavy 
with   sleep,  began  to  recover  its  natural   expression. 

Laura  surveyed  him.  He  had  a  square,  full  chin 
and  an  upper  lip  slightly  underhung.  His  straight  fair 
hair  straggled  loose  over  his  brow.  He  carried  his 
head  and  shoulders  well,  and  was  altogether  a  finely 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  l03 

built,  rather  magnificent  young  fellow,  niarred  by  a 
general  expression  that  was  half  clumsy,  half  insolent. 

"That's  it,"  she  said,  in  answer  to  his  question  — 
*  I'm  staying  at  Bannisdale,  and  I  came  up  to  see 
you  all.  —  Where's  Cousin  Elizabeth?" 

"Mother,  do  you  mean?  —  Oh!  she's  at  church." 

"  Why  aren't  you  there,  too  ? " 

He  opened  his  blue  eyes,  taken  aback  by  the  cool 
clearness  of  her  voice. 

"Well,  I  can't  abide  the  parson  —  if  you  want  to 
know.     Shall  I  put  up  your  pony  ?  " 

"But  perhaps  you've  not  had  your  sleep  out?" 
said  Laura,  politely  interrogative. 

He  reddened,  and  came  forward  with  a  slow  and 
rather  shambling  gait. 

"  I  don't  know  what  else  there  is  to  do  up  here  of  a 
Sunday  morning,"  he  said,  with  a  boyish  sulkiness,  as 
he  began  to  lead  the  pony  towards  the  stables  oppo- 
site. "  Besides,  I  was  up  half  the  night  seeing  to  one 
of  the  cows." 

"You  don't  seem  to  have  many  neighbours,"  said 
Laura,  as  she  walked  beside  him. 

"  There's  rooks  and  croAvs  "  (which  he  pronounced 
broadly  —  "  craws  ")  —  "  not  much  else,  I  can  tell  you. 
Shall  I  take  the  pony  out  ?  " 

"  Please.  I'm  afraid  you'll  have  to  put  up  with  me 
for  hours ! " 


104  EELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

She  looked  at  him  merrily,  and  he  returned  the 
scrutiny.  She  wore  the  same  thin  black  dress  in 
which  Helbeck  had  admired  her  the  day  before,  and 
above  it  a  cloth  jacket  and  cap,  trimmed  with  brown 
fur.  Mason  was  dazzled  a  moment  by  the  milky 
Avhiteness  of  the  cheek  above  the  fur,  by  the  bright- 
ness of  the  eyes  and  hair ;  then  was  seized  with  fresh 
shyness,  and  became  extremely  busy  with  the  pony. 

"Mother'll  be  back  in  about  an  hour,"  he  said 
gruffly. 

"  Goodness  !  what'll  you  do  with  me  till  then  ?  " 

They  both  laughed,  he  with  an  embarrassment  that 
annoyed  him.  He  was  not  at  all  accustomed  to  find 
himself  at  a  disadvantage  with  a  good-looking  girl. 

''  There's  a  good  fire  in  the  house,  anyway,"  he  said ; 
"you'll  want  to  warm  yourself,  I  should  think,  after 
driving  up  here." 

"  Oh !  I'm  not  cold —    I  say,  Avhat  jolly  horses  !  " 

Eor  Mason  had  thrown  open  the  large  worm-eaten 
door  of  the  stables,  and  inside  could  be  seen  the 
heads  and  backs  of  two  cart-horses,  huge,  majestic 
creatures,  who  were  peering  over  the  doors  of  their 
stalls,  as  though  they  had  been  listening  to  the 
conversation. 

Their  owner  glanced  at  them  indifferently. 

"Aye,  they're  not  bad.  We  bred  'em  three  years 
ago,  and  they've  taken  more'n  one  prize  already.     I 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  105 

dare  say  old  Daffady,  now,  as  looks  after  them,  would 
be  sorry  to  part  with  them." 

"I  dare  say  he  wo^^ld.  But  why  should  he  part 
with  them  ?  " 

The  young  man  hesitated.  He  was  shaking  down 
a  load  of  hay  for  the  pony,  and  Laura  was  leaning 
against  the  door  of  the  stall  watching  his  performance. 

"Well,  I  reckon  we  shan't  be  farmin  here  all  our 
lives,"  he  said  at  last  with  some  abruptness. 

"  Don't  you  like  it  then  ?  " 

"  I'd  get  quit  on  it  to-morrow  if  I  could  ! " 

His  quick  reply  had  an  emphasis  that  astonished 
her. 

"  And  your  mother  ?  " 

"  Oh !  of  course  it's  mother  keeps  me  at  it,"  he 
said,  relapsing  into  the  same  accent  of  a  sulky  child 
that  he  had  used  once  before. 

Then  he  led  his  new  cousin  back  to  the  farmhouse. 
By  this  time  he  was  beginning  to  find  his  tongue  and 
use  his  eyes.  Laiira  was  conscious  that  she  was  being 
closely  observed,  and  that  by  a  man  who  was  by  no 
means  indifferent  to  women.  She  said  to  herself  that 
she  would  try  to  keep  him  shy. 

As  they  entered  the  farmhouse  kitchen  Mason 
hastened  to  pick  up  the  chairs  he  had  overturned  in 
his  sudden  waking. 

"  I  say,  mother  would  be  mad  if  she  knew  you'd 


lOG  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

come  into  this  scrow ! "  he  said  with  vexation,  kick 
ing  aside  some  sporting  papers  that  were  littered 
over  the  floors,  and  bringing  forward  a  carved  oak 
chair  with  a  cushion  to  place  it  before  the  fire  for 
her  acceptance. 

"  Scrow  ?  What's  that  ?  "  said  Laura,  lifting  her 
eyebrows.  "Oh,  please  don't  tidy  any  more.  I 
really  think  you  make  it  worse.  Besides,  it's  all 
right.     What  a  dear  old  kitchen  !  " 

She  had  seated  herself  in  the  cushioned  chair,  and 
was  warming  a  slender  foot  at  the  fire.  Mason 
wished  she  would  take  off  her  hat  —  it  hid  her  hair. 
But  he  could  not  flatter  himself  that  she  was  in  the 
least  occupied  with  what  he  wished.  Her  attention 
was  all  given  to  her  surroundings  —  to  the  old  raf- 
tered room,  with  its  glowing  fire  and  deep-set  mn- 
dows. 

Bright  as  the  April  sun  was  outside,  it  hardly  pene- 
trated here.  Through  the  mellow  dusk,  as  through 
the  varnish  of  an  old  picture,  one  saw  the  different 
objects  in  a  golden  light  and  shade  —  the  brass 
warming-pan  hanging  beside  the  tall  eight-day  clock 
—  the  table  in  front  of  the  long  window-seat,  cov- 
ered with  its  checked  red  cloth  —  the  carved  door 
of  a  cupboard  in  the  wall  bearing  the  date  1679  — 
the  miscellaneous  store  of  things  packed  away  under 
the  black  rafters,  dried  herbs  and  tools,  bundles  of 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  107 

list  and.  twine,  the  spindles  of  old  spinning  wheels, 
cattle-medicines,  and  the  like  —  the  heavy  oaken 
chairs  —  the  settle  beside  the  fire,  with  its  hard 
cushions  and  scrolled  back.  It  was  a  room  for  win- 
ter, fashioned  by  the  needs  of  winter.  By  the  help 
of  that  great  peat  fire,  built  up  year  by  year  from 
the  spoils  of  the  moss  a  thousand  feet  below,  gen- 
erations of  human  beings  had  fought  with  snow  and 
storm,  had  maintained  their  little  polity  there  on  the  , 
heights,  self-centred,  self-supplied.  Across  the  yard, 
commanded  by  the  window  of  the  farm-kitchen,  lay 
the  rude  byres  where  the  cattle  were  prisoned  from 
October  to  April.  The  cattle  made  the  wealth  of 
the  farm,  and  there  must  be  many  weeks  when  the 
animals  and  their  masters  were  shut  in  together 
from  the  world  outside  by  wastes  of  snow. 

Laura  shut  her  eyes  an  instant,  imagining  the 
goings  to  and  fro  —  the  rising  on  winter  dawns  to 
feed  the  stock;  the  shepherd  on  the  fell-side,  wrest- 
ling with  sleet  and  tempest;  the  returns  at  night 
to  food  and  fire.  Her  young  fancy,  already  played 
on  by  the  breath  of  the  mountains,  warmed  to  the 
farmhouse  and  its  primitive  life.  Here  surely  was 
something  more  human  —  more  poetic  even  —  than 
the  tattered  splendour  of  Bannisdale. 

She  opened  her  eyes  wide  again,  as  though  in 
defiance,  and  saw  Hubert  IMason  looking  at  her. 


108  UELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

Instinctively  she  sat  up  straight,  and  drew  her 
foot  primly  under  the  shelter  of  her  dress. 

"1  was  thinking  of  what  it  must  be  in  winter," 
she  said  hurriedly.     "I  know  I  should  like  it." 

"  What,  this  place  ? "  He  gave  a  rough  laugh. 
"I  don't  see  what  for,  then.  It's  bad  enough  in 
summer.  In  winter  it's  fit  to  make  you  cut  your 
throat.     I  say,  where  are  you  staying  ?  " 

"  Why,  at  Bannisdale ! "  said  Laura  in  surprise. 
"  You  knew  my  stepmother  was  still  living,  didn't 
you  ?  " 

"Well,  I  didn't  think  aught  about  it,"  he  said, 
falling  into  candour,  because  the  beauty  of  her  grey 
eyes,  now  that  they  were  fixed  fair  and  full  upon 
him,  startled  him  out  of  his  presence  of  mind. 

"  I  wrote  to  you^  —  to  Cousin  Elizabeth  —  when  my 
father  died,"  she  said  simply,  rather  proudly,  and 
the  eyes  were  removed  from  him. 

"Aye  —  of  course  you  did,"  he  said  in  haste. 
"  But  mother's  never  yan  to  talk  aboot  letters.  And 
you  haven't  droj)ped  us  a  line  since,  have  you  ? " 
he  added,  almost  with  timidity. 

"No.  I  thought  I'd  surprise  you.  We've  been  a 
fortnight  at  Bannisdale." 

His  face  flushed  and  darkened. 

"  Then  you've  been  a  fortnight  in  a  queer  place  ! " 
te  said  with   a  sudden,  almost   a  violent   change  of 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  109 

tone.     "  I  wonder  you  can  bide  so  long  under  that 
man's  roof ! " 

She  stared. 

"  Do  you  mean  because  he  disliked  my  father  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  nowt  about  that !  "  He  paused. 
His  young  face  was  crimson,  his  eyes  angry  and  sin- 
ister. ''  He's  a  snake  —  is  Helbeck !  "  he  said  slowly, 
striking  his  hands  together  as  they  hung  over  his 
knees. 

Laura  recoiled  —  instinctively  straightening  herself. 

"  Mr.  Helbeck  is  quite  kind  to  me,"  she  said  sharply. 
"  I  don't  know  why  you  speak  of  him  like  that.  I'm 
staying  there  till  my  stepmother  gets  strong." 

He  stared  at  her,  still  red  and  obstinate. 

''Helbeck  an  his  house  together  stick  in  folk's 
gizzards  aboot  here,"  he  said.  "  Yo'll  soon  find  that 
oot.  And  good  reason  too.  Did  you  ever  hear  of 
Teddy  Williams  ?  " 

"  Williams  ?  "  she  said,  frowning.  "  Was  that  the 
man  that  painted  the  chapel  ? " 

Mason  laughed  and  slapped  his  knee. 

"Man,  indeed  ?  He  was  just  a  lad  —  down  at  Mars- 
land  School.  I  was  there  myself,  you  understand,  the 
year  after  him.  He  was  an  awful  clever  lad  —  beat 
every  one  at  books  —  an  he  could  draw  anything. 
You  couldn't  mak'  much  oot  of  his  drawins,  I  dam- 
say  —  they  were  queer  sorts  o'  things.     I  never  could 


110  llELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

make  head  or  tail  on  'em  myself.  But  old  Jackson, 
our  master,  thowt  a  lot  of  'em,  and  so  did  the  passon 
down  at  Marsland.  An  his  father  an  mother  —  well, 
they  thowt  he  was  going  to  make  all  their  fortunes 
for  'em.  There  was  a  scholarship  —  or  soomthin  o' 
that  sort  —  an  he  was  to  get  it  an  go  to  college,  an 
make  'em  all  rich.  They  were  just  common  wheel- 
wrights, you  understand,  down  on  t'  Whinthorpe  B,oad. 
But  my  word,  Mr.  Helbeck  spoilt  their  game  for  'em  ! " 

He  lifted  another  sod  of  turf  from  the  basket  and 
flung  it  on  the  fire.  The  animus  of  his  tone  and 
manner  struck  Laura  oddly.  But  she  was  at  least  as 
curious  to  hear  as  he  was  anxious  to  tell.  She  drew 
her  chair  a  little  nearer  to  him. 

"  What  did  Mr.  Helbeck  do  ?  " 

Mason  laughed. 

"Well,  he  just  made  a  Papist  of  Teddy  —  took  him 
an  done  him  —  brown.  He  got  hold  on  him  in  the 
park  one  evening  —  Teddy  was  drawing  a  picture  of 
the  bridge,  you  understand  —  'ticed  him  up  to  his 
place  soomhow  —  an  Teddy  was  set  to  a  job  of 
paintin  up  at  the  chapel  before  you  could  say  Jack 
E-obinson.  An  in  six  months  they'd  settled  it  be- 
tween 'em.  Teddy  wouldn't  go  to  school  no  more. 
And  one  night  he  and  his  father  had  words  —  the 
owd  man  gie'd  him  a  thrashing  —  and  Teddy  just  cut 
and  run.     Next  thing  tliey  heard  he  was  at  a  Papist 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  111 

school,  somewhere  over  Lancashire  way,  an  he  sent 
word  to  his  mother  —  she  was  clyin  then,  you  nnder- 
stan  —  and  she's  dead  since  —  that  he'd  gone  to  be  a 
priest,  an  if  they  didn't  like  it,  they  might  just  do 
the  other  thing ! " 

"And  the  mother  died ? "  said  Laura. 

"  Aye  —  double  quick !  My  mother  went  down  to 
nurse  her.  An  they  sent  Teddy  back,  just  too  late 
to  see  her.  He  come  in  two-three  hours  after  they'd 
screwed  her  down.  An  his  father  chivvyed  him  oot 
—  they  wouldn't  have  him  at  the  funeral.  But  folks 
were  a  deal  madder  with  Mr.  Helbeck,  you  understan, 
nor  with  Teddy.  Teddy's  father  and  brothers  are 
chapel  folk  —  Primitive  Methodists  they  call  'em. 
They've  got  a  big  chapel  in  Whinthorpe  —  an  they 
raised  the  whole  place  on  Mr.  Helbeck,  and  one  night, 
coming  out  of  Whinthorpe,  he  was  set  on  by  a  lot  of 
fellows,  chapel  fellows,  a  bit  fresh,  you  understan. 
Father  was  there  —  he  never  denied  it  —  not  he! 
Helbeck  just  got  into  the  old  mill  by  the  bridge  in 
time,  but  they'd  marked  his  face  for  him  all  the 
same." 

"  Ah ! "  said  Laura,  staring  into  the  fire.  She 
had  just  remembered  a  dark  scar  on  Mr.  Helbeck's 
forehead,  under  the  strong  ripples  of  black  hair.  "  Go 
on  —  do  ! " 

"Oh!   afterwards  there  was  a  lot  of  men   bound 


112  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

over  —  father  among  'em.  There  was  a  priest  with 
Mr.  Helbeck  wlio  got  it  hot  too  —  that  okl  chap 
Bowles  —  I  dare  say  you've  seen  him.  Aye,  he's  a 
snake,  is  Helbeck ! "  the  young  man  repeated.  Then 
he  reddened  still  more  deeply,  and  added  with  vin- 
dictive emphasis  —  "and  an  interfering,  —  hypocriti- 
cal, —  canting  sort  of  party  into  t'  bargain.  He'd  like 
to  lord  it  over  everybody  aboot  here,  if  he  was  let. 
But  he's  as  poor  as  a  church  rat  —  who  minds  him  ?  " 

The  language  was  extraordinary  —  so  Avas  the  tone. 
Laura  had  been  gazing  at  the  speaker  in  a  growing 
amazement. 

"  Thank  you ! "  she  said  impetuously,  when  Mason 
stopped.  "Thank  you!  —  but,  in  spite  of  your 
story,  I  don't  think  you  ought  to  speak  like  that  of 
the  gentleman  I  am  staying  with ! " 

Mason  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair.  He  was 
evidently  trying  to  control  himself. 

"  I  didn't  mean  no  offence,"  he  said  at  last,  with 
a  return  of  the  sulky  voice.  "  Of  course  I  under- 
stand that  you're  staying  with  the  quality,  and  not 
with  the  likes  of  us." 

Laura's  face  lit  up  with  laughter.  "What  an 
extraordinary  silly  thing  to  say !  But  I  don't  mind 
—  I'll  forgive  you  —  like  I  did  years  ago,  when  you 
pushed  me  into  the  puddle !  " 

"I  pushed  you  into  a  puddle?     But  —  I  never  did 


IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  113 

owt  o'  t'  sort ! "  cried  Mason,  in  a  slow  crescendo  of 
astonishment. 

"Oh,  yes,  you  did,"  she  nodded  her  little  head. 
"I  broke  an  egg,  and  you  bullied  me.  Of  course  I 
thought  you  were  a  horrid  boy — and  I  loved  Polly, 
who  cleaned  my  shoes  and  put  me  straight.  Where's 
Polly,  is  she  at  church  ? " 

"Aye  —  I  dare  say,"  said  Mason  stupidly,  watch- 
ing his  visitor  meanwhile  with  all  his  eyes.  She 
had  just  put  up  a  small  hand  and  taken  off  her  cap. 
Now,  mechanically,  she  began  to  pat  and  arrange 
the  little  curls  upon  her  forehead,  then  to  take  out 
and  replace  a  hairpin  or  two,  so  as  to  fasten  the 
golden  mass  behind  a  little  more  securely.  The 
white  fingers  moved  with  an  exquisite  sureness  and 
daintiness,  the  lifted  arms  showed  all  the  young 
curves  of  the  girl's  form. 

Suddenly  Laura  turned  to  him  again.  Her  eyes 
had  been  staring  dreamily  into  the  fire^  while  her 
hands  had  been  busy  with  her  hair. 

"So  you  don't  remember  our  visit  at  all?  You 
don't  remember  papa  ?  " 

He  shook  his  head. 

"  Ah !  well "  —  she  sighed.  Mason  felt  unaccount- 
ably guilty. 

"  I  was  always  terr'ble  bad  at  remembering,"  he 
said  hastily. 

VOL.   1.  — I 


114  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"But  you  ouglit  to  have  remembered  papa."  Then, 
in  quite  a  different  voice,  "Is  this  your  sitting-room" 
—  she  looked  round  it  —  "or  —  or  your  kitchen  ?  " 

The  last  words  fell  rather  timidly,  lest  she  might 
have  hurt  his  feelings. 

Mason  jumped  np. 

"Why,  yen's  the  parlour,"  he  said.  "I  should 
ha'  taken  you  there  fust  thing.  Will  you  coom? 
I'll  soon  make  a  fire." 

And  walking  across  the  kitchen,  he  threw  open  a 
further  door  ceremoniously.  Laura  followed,  paus- 
ing just  inside  the  threshold  to  look  round  the  little 
musty  sitting-room,  with  its  framed  photographs,  its 
woollen  mats,  its  rocking-chairs,  and  its  square  of 
mustard-coloured  carpet.  Mason  watched  her  fur- 
tively all  the  time,  to  see  how  the  place  struck 
her. 

"Oh,  this  isn't  as  nice  as  the  kitchen,"  she  said 
decidedly.  "  What's  that  ?  "  She  pointed  to  a  pewter 
cup  standing  stately  and  alone  upon  the  largest  pos- 
sible wool  mat  in  the  centre  of  a  table. 

Mason  threw  back  his  head  and  chuckled.  His 
great  chest  seemed  to  fill  out ;  all  his  sulky  constraint 
dropped  away. 

"Of  course  you  doan't  know  anythin  aboot  these 
parts,"  he  said  to  her  with  condescension.  "  You 
don't  know  as  I  came  near  bein  champion  for  the 


BELBECK  OF  BA]!^'NISBALE  115 

County  lasst  year" — no,  I'll  reckon  you  don't.  Oh! 
that  cup's  nowt — that's  nobbut  Whinthorpe  sports, 
lasst  December.  Maybe  there'll  be  a  better  there, 
by-and-by." 

The  young  giant  grinned,  as  he  took  up  the  cup 
and  pointed  with  assumed  indifference  to  its  inscrip- 
tion. 

"What  —  football?"  said  Laura,  putting  up  her 
hand  to  hide  a  yawn.  "  Oh !  I  don't  care  about 
football.  But  I  love  cricket.  Why  —  you've  got  a 
piano  —  and  a  new  one !  " 

Mason's  face  cleared  again  —  in  quite  another 
fashion. 

"  Do  you  know  the  maker  ?  "  he  said  eagerly.  "  I 
believe  he's  thowt  a  deal  of  by  them  as  knows.  I 
bought  it  myself  out  o'  the  sheep.  The  lambs  had 
done  fust-rate,  —  an  I'd  had  more'n  half  the  trooble 
of  'em,  ony  ways.  So  I  took  no  heed  o'  mother.  I 
went  down  straight  to  Whinthrupp,  an  paid  the  first 
instalment  an  browt  it  up  in  the  cart  mesel'.  Mr. 
Castle  —  do  yo  knaw  'im  ?  —  he's  the  organist  at 
the  parish  church  —  he  came  with  me  to  choose  it." 

"And  is  it  you  that  play  it,"  said  Laura  wonder- 
ing, "or  your  sister?" 

He  looked  at  her  in  silence  for  a  moment  —  and 
she  at  him.  His  aspect  seemed  to  change  under  her 
eyes.     The  handsome  points  of  the  face  came  out; 


IIG  IlELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

its  coarseness  and  loiitishness  receded.  And  his  man- 
ner became  snddenly  quiet  and  manly  —  though  full 
of  an  almost  tremulous  eagerness. 

"  You  like  it  ?  "     she  asked  him. 

"  What  —  music  ?     I  should  think  so." 

"  Oh !  I  forgot  —  you're  all  musical  in  these  north- 
ern parts,  aren't  you  ?  " 

He  made  no  answer,  but  sat  down  to  the  piano 
and  opened  it.  She  leant  over  the  back  of  a  chair, 
watching  him,  half  incredulous,  half  amused. 

''I  say  —  did  you  ever  hear  this?  I  believe  it 
was  some  Cambridge  fellow  made  it  —  Castle  said 
so.  He  played  it  to  me.  And  I  can't  get  fur- 
ther than  just  a  bit  of  it." 

He  raised  his  great  hands  and  brought  them  down 
in  a  burst  of  chords  that  shook  the  little  room  and 
the  raftered  ceiling.  Laura  stared.  He  played  on 
—  played  like  a  musician,  though  with  occasional 
stumbling  —  played  with  a  mingled  energy  and  deli- 
cacy, an  understanding  and  abandonment  that  amazed 
her  —  then  grew  crimson  with  the  effort  to  remem- 
ber —  wavered  —  and  stopped. 

"  Goodness !  "  —  cried  Laura.  "  Why,  that's  Stan- 
ford's music  to  the  Eumenides !  How  on  earth  did 
you  hear  that  ?     Go  away.     I  can  play  it." 

She  pushed  him  away  and  sat  down.  He  hung 
over   her,  his   face    smiling   and   transformed,   while 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  117 

her  little  hands  struggled  with  the  chords,  found 
the  after  melody,  pursued  it,  —  with  pauses  now  and 
then,  in  which  he  would  strike  in,  prompting  her, 
putting  his  hand  down  with  hers  —  and  finally,  after 
modulations  which  she  made  her  way  through,  with 
laughter  and  head-shakings,  she  fell  into  a  weird 
dance,  to  which  he  beat  time  with  hands  and  limbs, 
urging  her  with  a  rain  of  comments, 

"  Oh !  my  goody  —  isn't  that  rousing  ?  Play  that 
again  —  just  that  change — just  once!  Oh!  Lord  — 
isn't  that  good,  that  chord  —  and  that  bit  afterwards, 
what  a  bass  !  — I  say,  isnH  it  a  bass  ?  Don't  you  like 
it  —  don't  you  like  it  aiofidly  ?  " 

Suddenly  she  wheeled  round  from  the  piano,  and 
sat  fronting  him,  her  hands  on  her  knees.  He  fell 
back  into  a  chair. 

"  I  say  "  — he  said  slowly  —  "  you  are  a  grand  'un ! 
If  I'd  only  known  you  could  play  like  that !  " 

Her  laugh  died  away.  To  his  amazement  she 
began  to  frown. 

"I  haven't  played  —  ten  notes — since  papa  died. 
He  liked  it  so." 

She  turned  her  back  to  him,  and  began  to  look  at 
the  torn  music  at  the  top  of  the  piano. 

"But  you  will  play  —  you'll  play  to  me  again"  — 
he  said  beseechingly.  — "  Why,  it  would  be  a  sin  if 
you  didn't  play!     Wouldn't  I   play  if    I  could  play 


118  HELBECK  OF  BANNISLALE 

like  you !  I  never  had  more  than  a  lesson,  now  and 
again,  from  old  Castle.  I  used  to  steal  mother's  eggs 
to  pay  him  —  I  can  play  anything  I  hear  —  and  I've 
made  a  song  —  old  Castle's  writing  it  down  —  he  says 
he'll  teach  me  to  do  it  some  day.  But  of  course  I'm 
no  good  for  playing  —  I  never  shall  be  any  good. 
Look  at  those  fingers — they're  like  bits  of  stick  — 
beastly  things ! " 

He  thrust  them  out  indignantly  for  her  inspection. 
Laura  looked  at  them  with  a  professional  air. 

''I  don't  call  it  a  bad  hand.  I  expect  you've  no 
patience." 

"  Haven't  I !  I  tell  you  I'd  play  all  day,  if  it  'Id  do 
any  good — -but  it  won't." 

"  And  how  about  the  poor  farm  ?  "  said  Laura, 
with  a  lifted  brow. 

"  Oh  !  the  farm  —  the  farm  —  dang  the  farm ! "  — 
said  Mason  violently,  slapping  his  knee. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  sound  of  voices  outside,  a 
clattering  on  the  stones  of  the  farmyard. 

Mason  sprang  up,  all  frowns. 

"That's  mother.  Here,  let's  shut  the  piano  — 
quick !     She  can't  abide  it." 


CHAPTEE   V 

Mason  went  out  to  meet  his  mother,  and  Laura 
waited.  Slae  stood  where  she  had  risen,  beside  the 
piano,  looking  nervously  towards  the  door.  Childish 
remembrances  and  alarms  seemed  to  be  thronging  back 
into  her  mind. 

There  was  a  noise  of  voices  in  the  outer  room. 
Then  a  handle  was  roughly  turned,  and  Laura  saw 
before  her  a  short,  stout  woman,  with  grey  hair,  and 
the  most  piercing  black  eyes.  Intimidated  by  the 
eyes,  and  by  the  sudden  pause  of  the  newcomer  on 
the  threshold,  Miss  Fountain  could  only  look  at  her 
interrogatively. 

"  Is  it  Cousin  Elizabeth  ?  "  she  said,  holding  out  a 
wavering  hand. 

Mrs.  Mason  scarcely  allowed  her  own  to  be  touched. 

"  We're  not  used  to  visitors  i'  church-time,"  she 
said  abruptly,  in  a  deep  funereal  voice.  "Mappen 
you'll  sit  down." 

And  still  holding  the  girl  with  her  eyes,  she  walked 
across  to  an  old  rocking-chair,  let  herself  fall  into  it, 
and  with  a  loud  sigh  loosened  her  bonnet  strings. 

119 


120  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Laura,  in  her  amazement,  had  to  strangle  a  violent 
inclination  to  laugh.  Then  she  flushed  brightly,  and 
sat  down  on  the  wooden  stool  in  front  of  the  piano. 
Mrs.  Mason,  still  staring  at  her,  seemed  to  wait  for 
her  to  speak.     But  Laura  would  say  nothing. 

"  Soa  —  thoo  art  Stephen  Fountain's  dowter  —  art 
tha?" 

"  Yes  —  and  you  have  seen  me  before,"  was  the 
girl's  quiet  reply. 

She  said  to  herself  that  her  cousin  had  the  eyes  of 
a  bird  of  prey.  So  black  and  fierce  they  were,  in  the 
greyish  white  face  under  the  shaggy  hair.  But  she 
was  not  afraid.  Rather  she  felt  her  own  temper 
rising. 

"  How  long  is  't  sen  your  feyther  deed  ?  " 

"  Nine  months.  But  you  knew  that,  I  think  —  be- 
cause I  wrote  it  you." 

Mrs.  Mason's  heavy  lids  blinked  a  moment,  then  she 
said  with  slowly  quickening  emphasis,  like  one  mount- 
ing to  a  crisis  : 

"  Wat  art  tha  doin'  wi'  Bannisdale  Hall  ?  What 
call  has  thy  feyther's  dowter  to  be  visitin  onder  Alan 
Helbeck's  roof  ?  " 

Laura's  open  mouth  showed  first  wonderment,  then 
laughter. 

"  Oh  !  I  see,"  she  said  impatiently  — "  you  don't 
seem  to  understand.     But  of  course  you  remember 


UELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  121 

that  my  father  married  Miss  Helbeck  for  his  second 
wife  ?  " 

"  Aye,  an  she  cam  cot  fra  amang  them,"  exclaimed 
Mrs.  Mason ;  "  she  put  away  from  her  the  accursed 
thing ! " 

The  massive  face  was  all  aglow,  transformed,  with 
a  kind  of  sombre  fire.     Laura  stared  afresh. 

''  She  gave  up  being  a  Catholic,  if  that's  what  you 
mean,"  she  said  after  a  moment's  pause.  "But  she 
couldn't  keep  to  it.  When  papa  fell  ill,  and  she  was 
unhappy,  she  went  back.  And  then  of  course  she 
made  it  up  with  her  brother." 

The  triumph  in  Mrs.  Mason's  face  yielded  first  to 
astonishment,  then  to  anger. 

"The  poor  weak  doited  thing,"  she  said  at  last 
in  a  tone  of  indescribable  contempt,  "the  poor  silly 
fule !  But  naebody  need  ha'  luked  for  onything 
betther  from  a  Helbeck. —  And  I  daur  say" — she 
lifted  her  voice  fiercely  —  "I  daur  say  she  took  yo' 
wi'  her,  an  it's  along  o'  thattens  as  yo're  coom  to 
spy  on  us  oop  here  ? " 

Laura  sprang  up. 

"Me!"  she  said  indignantly.  "You  think  I'm  a 
Catholic  and  a  spy  ?  How  kind  of  you !  But  of 
course  you  don't  know  anything  about  my  father,  nor 
how  he  brought  me  up.  As  for  my  poor  little  step- 
mother, I  came  here  with  her  to  get  her  well,  and  I 


122  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

shall  stay  Avitli  lier  till  slie  is  well.  I  really  don't 
know  why  you  talk  to  me  like  this.  I  suppose  you 
have  cause  to  dislike  Mr.  Helbeck,  but  it  is  very  odd 
that  you  should  visit  it  on  me,  papa's  daughter,  when 
I  come  to  see  you !  " 

The  girl's  voice  trembled,  but  she  threw  back  her 
slender  neck  with  a  gesture  that  became  her.  The 
door,  which  had  been  closed,  stealthily  opened.  Hu- 
bert Mason's  face  appeared  in  the  doorway.  It  was 
gazing  eagerly  —  admiringly  —  at  Miss  Fountain. 

Mrs.  Mason  did  not  see  him.  Nor  was  she  daunted 
by  Laura's  anger. 

''It's  aw  yan,"  she  said  stubbornly.  "Thoo  ha' 
made  a  covenant  wi'  the  Amorite  an  the  Amalekite. 
They  ha'  called  tha,  an  thoo  art  eatin  o'  their  sacri- 
fices ! " 

There  was  an  uneasy  laugh  from  the  door,  and 
Laura,  turning  her  astonished  eyes  in  that  direction, 
perceived  Hubert  standing  in  the  doorway,  and  behind 
him  another  head  thrust  eagerly  forward  —  the  head 
of  a  young  woman  in  a  much  betrimmed  Sunday  hat. 

"  I  say,  mother,  let  her  be,  wil  tha  ?  "  said  a  hearty 
voice ;  and,  pushing  Hubert  aside,  the  owner  of  the 
hat  entered  the  room.  She  went  up  to  Laura,  and 
gave  her  a  loud  kiss. 

"I'm  Polly  —  Polly  Mason.  An  I  know  who  you 
are  weel  enough.     Doan't  you  pay  ony  attention  to 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  123 

mother.  That's  her  way.  Hubert  an  I  take  it  very 
kind  of  you  to  come  and  see  us." 

"Motlier's  rats  on  Amorites!"  said  Hubert,  grin- 
ning. 

"  Rats  ?  —  Amorites  ?  "  —  said  Laura,  looking  pite- 
ously  at  Polly,  whose  hand  she  held. 

Polly  laughed,  a  bouncing,  good-humoured  laugh. 
She  herself  was  a  bouncing,  good-humoured  person,  the 
apparent  antithesis  of  her  mother  with  her  lively 
eyes,  her  frizzled  hair,  her  high  cheek-bones  touched 
with  a  bright  pink. 

"Yo'll  have  to  get  oop  early  to  understan'  them 
two,"  she  declared.  "  Mother's  alius  talkin  out  o'  t' 
Bible,  an  Hubert  picks  up  a  lot  o'  low  words  out  o' 
Whinthrupp  streets  —  an  there  'tis.  But  now  look 
here  —  yo'll  stay  an  tak'  a  bit  o'  dinner  with  us  ? " 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  in  your  way,"  said  Laura 
formally.  Really,  she  had  some  difficulty  to  control 
the  quiver  of  her  lips,  though  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  say  whether  laughter  or  tears  came  nearest. 

At  this  Polly  broke  out  in  voluble  protestations, 
investigating  her  cousin's  dress  all  the  time,  fingering 
her  little  watch-chain,  and  even  taking  up  a  corner  of 
the  pretty  cloth  jacket  that  she  might  examine  the 
quality  of  it.     Laura,  however,  looked  at  Mrs.  Mason. 

"  If  Cousin  Elizabeth  wishes  me  to  stay,"  she  said 
proudly. 


124  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Polly  bi^rst  into  another  lond  laugh. 

"Yo  see,  it  goes  agen  mother  to  be  shakin  hands 
wi'  yan  that's  livin  wi'  Papists — and  Misther  Hel- 
beck  by  the  bargain.  So  wheniver  mother  talks  aboot 
Aniorites  or  Jebiisites,  or  any  o'  thattens,  she  nobbut 
means  Papist  —  Romanists  as  our  minister  coes  'em. 
He's  every  bit  as  bad  as  her.  He  would  as  lief  shake 
hands  wi'  Mr.  Helbeck  as  wi'  the  owd  'un  ! " 

"Pll  uphowd  ye  —  Mr.  Bayley  hasn't  preached  a 
sermon  this  ten  year  wi'oot  chivvy  in  Papists !  "  said 
Hubert  from  the  door.  ''An  yo'U  not  find  yan  o' 
them  in  his  parish  if  yo  Avere  to  hunt  it  wi'  a  lantern 
for  a  week  o'  Sundays.  When  I  was  a  lad  I  thowt 
Romanists  were  a  soart  o'  varmin.  I  awmost  looked 
to  see  'em  nailed  to  t'  barndoor,  same  as  stoats  !  " 

"  But  how  strange  !  "  cried  Laura  —  "  when  there 
are  so  few  Catholics  about  here.  And  no  one  hates 
Catholics  now.     One  may  just  —  despise  them." 

She  looked  from  mother  to  son  in  bewilderment. 
Not  only  Hubert's  speech,  but  his  whole  manner  had 
broadened  and  coarsened  since  his  mother's  arrival. 

"Well,  if  there  isn't  niony,  they  make  a  deal  o' 
talk,"  said  Polly  —  "onyways  sence  Mr.  Helbeck  came 
to  t'  hall.  —  Mother,  I'll  take  Miss  Fountain  oopstairs, 
to  get  her  hat  off." 

During  all  the  banter  of  her  son  and  daughter  Mrs. 
Mason   had  sat  in  a  disdainful   silence,  turning  her 


HELBEGK  OF  BANNISDALE  125 

s /range  eyes  —  the  eyes  of  a  fanatic,  in  a  singularly 
shrewd  and  capable  face  —  now  on  Laura,  now  on 
her  children.  Laura  looked  at  her  again,  irresolute 
whether  to  go  or  stay.  Then  an  impulse  seized  her 
which  astonished  herself.  For  it  was  an  impulse 
of  liking,  an  impulse  of  kinship ;  and  as  she  quickly 
crossed  the  room  to  Mrs.  Mason's  side,  she  said  in  a 
pretty  pleading  voice : 

"  But  you  see.  Cousin  Elizabeth,  I'm  not  a  Catho- 
lic—  and  papa  wasn't  a  Catholic.  And  I  couldn't 
help  Mrs.  Fountain  going  back  to  her  old  religion  — 
you  shouldn't  visit  it  on  me  ! " 

Mrs.  Mason  looked  up. 

"  Why  art  tha  not  at  church  on  t'  Lord's  day  ?  " 

The  question  came  stern  and  quick. 

Laura  wavered,  then  drew  herself  up. 

"  Because  I'm  not  your  sort  either.  I  don't  believe 
in  your  church,  or  your  ministers.  Father  didn't, 
and  I'm  like  him." 

Her  voice  had  grown  thick,  and  she  was  quite 
pale.     The  old  woman  stared  at  her. 

"  Then  yo're  nobbut  yan  o'  the  heathen ! "  she 
said  with  slow  precision. 

"  I  dare  say ! "  cried  Laura,  half  laughing,  half 
crying.  "That's  my  affair.  But  I  declare  I  tliink 
I  hate  ('atholics  as  much  as  you  —  there,  Cousin 
Elizabeth  !     I  don't  hate  my  stepmother,  of  course.     I 


126  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

promised  fatlier  to  take  care  of  her.  But  that's 
another  matter." 

"  Dost  tha  hate  ALan  Helbeck  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Mason 
suddenly,  her  black  eyes  opening  in  a  flash. 

The  girl  hesitated,  caught  her  breath  —  then  was 
seized  with  the  strangest,  most  abject  desire  to  pro- 
pitiate this  grim  woman  with  the  passionate  look. 

"  Yes  ! "  she  said  wildly.  "  No,  no  !  —  that's  silly. 
I  haven't  had  time  to  hate  him.  But  I  don't  like 
him,  anyway.     I'm  nearly  sure  I  shall  hate  him ! " 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  truth  in  her  tone. 

Mrs.  Mason  slowly  rose.  Her  chest  heaved  with 
one  long  breath,  then  subsided ;  her  brow  tightened. 
She  turned  to  her  son. 

"  Art  tha  goin  to  let  Daffady  do  all  thy  work  for 
tha  ? "  she  said  sharply.  "  Has  t'  roan  calf  bin 
looked  to?" 

"  Aye  —  I'm  going,"  said  Hubert  evasively,  and 
sheepishly  straightening  himself  he  made  for  the 
front  door,  throwing  back  more  than  one  look  as  he 
departed  at  his  new  cousin. 

"  And  you  really  want  me  to  stay  ? "  repeated 
Laura  insistently,  addressing  Mrs.  Mason. 

"Yo're  welcome,"  was  the  stiff  reply.  "Nobbut 
yo'd  been  mair  welcome  if  yo  hadna  brokken  t' 
Sabbath  to  coom  here.  Mappen  yo'll  goa  wi'  Polly, 
an  tak'  your  bonnet  off." 


HELBECK   OF  BANNISBALE  127 

Laura  hesitated  a  moment  longer,  bit  her  lip,  and 
went. 

Polly  Mason  was  a  great  talker.  In  the  few 
minutes  she  spent  with  Laura  upstairs,  before  she 
hurried  down  again  to  help  her  mother  with  the  Sun- 
day dinner,  she  asked  her  new  cousin  innumerable 
questions,  showing  an  intense  curiosity  as  to  Bannis- 
dale  and  the  Helbecks,  a  burning  desire  to  know 
whether  Laura  had  any  money  of  her  own,  or  was  still 
dependent  upon  her  stepmother,  and  a  joyous  appro- 
priative  pride  in  Miss  Fountain's  gentility  and  good 
looks. 

The  frankness  of  Polly's  flatteries,  and  the  exuber- 
ance of  her  whole  personality,  ended  by  producing  a 
certain  stiffness  in  Laura.  Every  now  and  then,  in 
the  intervals  of  Polly's  questions,  when  she  ceased  to 
be  inquisitive  and  became  confidential,  Laura  would 
wonder  to  herself.  She  would  half  shut  her  eyes, 
trying  to  recall  the  mental  image  of  her  cousins  and 
of  the  farm,  with  which  she  had  started  that  morning 
from  Bannisdale ;  or  she  woidd  think  of  her  father, 
his  modes  of  life  and  speech  —  was  he  really  con- 
nected, and  how,  with  this  place  and  its  inmates  ? 
She  had  expected  something  simple  and  patriarchal. 
She  had  found  a  family  of  peasants,  living  in  a  strug- 
gling, penurious  way  —  a  grim  mother  speaking  broad 


128  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

dialect,  a  son  with  no  pretensions  to  refinement  or 
education,  except  perhaps  through  his  music  —  and  a 
daughter ■ 

Laura  turned  an  attentive  eye  on  Polly,  on  her 
high  and  red  cheek-bones,  the  extravagant  fringe  that 
vulgarised  all  her  honest  face,  the  Sunday  dress 
of  stone-coloured  alpaca,  profusely  trimmed  with 
magenta  ribbons. 

" I  will  —  I  imll  like  her !  "  she  said  to  herself  —  "I 
am  a  horrid,  snobbish,  fastidious  little  wretch." 

But  her  spirits  had  sunk.  When  Polly  left  her  she 
leant  for  a  moment  upon  the  sill  of  the  open  window, 
and  looked  out.  Across  the  dirty,  uneven  yard,  where 
the  manure  lay  in  heaps  outside  the  byre  doors,- she 
saw  the  rude  farm  buildings  huddled  against  each 
other  in  a  mean,  unsightly  group.  Down  below,  from 
the  house  porch  apparently,  a  cracked  bell  began  to 
ring,  and  from  some  doors  opposite  three  labourers, 
the  "hired  men,"  who  lived  and  boarded  on  the  farm, 
came  out.  The  first  two  were  elderly  men,  gnarled 
and  bent  like  tough  trees  that  have  fought  the  winter ; 
the  third  was  a  youth.  They  were  tidily  dressed  in 
Sunday  clothes,  for  their  work  was  done,  and  they 
were  ready  for  the  afternoon's  holiday. 

They  walked  across  to  the  farmhouse  in  silence,  one 
behind  the  otlier.  Not  even  the  young  fellow  raised 
his  eyes  to  the  window  and  the  girl  framed  within  it. 


,  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  129 

Behind  them  came  a  gust  of  piercing  easterly  wind. 
A  cloud  had  covered  the  sun.  The  squalid  farmyard, 
the  bare  fell-side  beyond  it,  the  distant  levels  of  the 
marsh,  had  taken  to  themselves  a  cold  forbidding  air. 
Laura  again  imagined  it  in  December  —  a  waste  of 
snow,  with  the  farm  making  an  ugly  spot  upon  the 
white,  and  the  little  black-bearded  sheep  she  could 
see  feeding  on  the  fell,  crowding  under  the  rocks  for 
shelter.  But  this  time  she  shivered.  All  the  spell 
was  broken.  To  live  up  here  with  this  madwoman, 
this  strange  youth  —  and  Polly!  Yet  it  seemed  to 
her  that  something  drew  her  to  Cousin  Elizabeth  — 
if  she  were  not  so  mad.  How  strange  to  find  this 
abhorrence  of  Mr.  Helbeck  among  these  people  — 
so  different,  so  remote!  She  remembered  her  own 
words —  "  I  am  sure  I  shall  hate  him !  "  —  not  without 
a  stab  of  conscience.  What  had  she  been  doing  — 
perhaps  —  but  adding  her  own  injustice  to  theirs? 

She  stood  lost  in  a  young  puzzle  and  heat  of  feeling 
—  half  angry,  half  repentant. 

But  only  for  a  second.  Then  certain  phrases  of 
Augustina's  rang  through  her  mind  —  she  saw  herself 
standing  in  the  corner  of  the  chapel  while  the  others 
prayed.  Every  pulse  tightened  —  her  whole  nature 
leapt  again  in  defiance.  She  seemed  to  be  holding 
something  at  bay  —  a  tyrannous  power  that  threat- 
ened humiliation  and  hypocrisy,  that  seemed  at  the 


VOL.    I.  —  K 


130  HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE , 

same  time  to  be  prying  into  secret  things  —  things  it 
should  never,  never  know  —  and  never  rule  ! 

Yes,  she  did  understand  Cousin  Elizabeth  —  she  did  I 

The  dinner  Avent  sadly.  The  viands  were  heavy : 
so  were  the  faces  of  the  labourers,  and  the  air  of  the 
low-raftered  kitchen,  heated  as  it  was  by  a  huge  fire, 
and  pervaded  by  the  smell  from  the  farmyard. 
Laura  felt  it  all  very  strange,  the  presence  of  the 
farm  servants  at  the  same  table  with  the  Masons  and 
herself  —  the  long  silences  that  no  one  made  an 
effort  to  break  —  the  relations  between  Hubert  and 
his  mother. 

As  for  the  labourers,  Mason  addressed  them  now 
and  then  in  a  bullying  voice,  and  they  spoke  to  him 
as  little  as  they  could.  It  seemed  to  Laura  that  there 
was  an  alliance  between  them  and  the  mother  against 
a  lazy  and  incompetent  master;  and  that  the  lad's 
vanity  was  perpetually  alive  to  it.  Again  and  again 
he  would  pull  himself  together,  attempt  the  gentle- 
man, and  devote  himself  to  his  young  lady  guest. 
But  in  the  midst  of  their  conversation  he  would  hear 
something  at  the  other  end  of  the  table,  and  suddenly 
there  would  come  a  burst  of  fierce  unintelligible 
speech  between  him  and  the  mistress  of  the  house, 
while  the  labourers  sat  silent  and  sly,  and  Polly's 
loud  laugh  would  break  in,  trying  to  make  peace. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  131 

Laura's  cool  grey  eyes  followed  the  youth  with  a 
constant  critical  wonder.  In  any  other  circumstances 
she  would  not  have  thought  him  worth  an  instant's 
attention.  She  had  all  the  supercilious  impatience  of 
the  pretty  girl  accustomed  to  choose  her  company. 
But  this  odd  fact  of  kinship  held  and  harassed  her. 
She  wanted  to  understand  these  Masons — her  father's 
folk. 

"  Now  he  is  really  talking  quite  nicely,"  she  said  to 
herself  on  one  occasion,  when  Hubert  had  found  in 
the  gifts  and  accomplishments  of  his  friend  Castle, 
the  organist,  a  subject  that  untied  his  tongue  and 
made  him  almost  agreeable.  Suddenly  a  question 
caught  his  ear. 

"  Daffady,  did  tha  turn  the  coo  ?  "  said  his  mother 
in  a  loud  voice.  Even  in  the  homeliest  question  it 
had  the  same  penetrating,  passionate  quality  that 
belonged  to  her  gaze  —  to  her  whole  personality  in- 
deed. 

Hubert  dropped  his  phrase  —  and  his  knife  and 
fork  —  and  stared  angrily  at  Daffady,  the  old  cow- 
man and  carter. 

Daffady  threw  his  master  a  furtive  look,  then 
munched  through  a  mouthful  of  bread  and  cheese 
without  replying. 

He  was  a  grey  and  taciturn  person,  with  a  provoca- 
tive look  of  patience. 


132  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"What  tha  bin  doin  wi'  th'  coo?"  said  Hubert 
sliarply.  '*I  left  her  mysel  nobbut  half  an  hour 
sen." 

Daffady  turned  his  head  again  in  Hubert's  direc- 
tion for  a  moment,  then  deliberately  addressed  the 
mistress. 

"  Aye,  aye,  missus  "  —  he  spoke  in  a  high  small 
voice  —  "A  turned  her  reet  enoof,  an  a  gied  her  soom 
fresh  straa  for  her  yed.     She  doin  varra  middlin." 

"  If  she'd  been  turned  yesterday  in  a  proper  fash- 
ion, she'd  ha'  bin  on  her  feet  by  now,"  said  Mrs. 
Mason,  with  a  glance  at  her  son. 

"Nowt  o'  t'  soart,  mother,"  cried  Hubert.  He 
leant  forward,  flushed  with  wrath,  or  beer  —  his  pota- 
tions had  begun  to  fill  Laura  with  dismay  —  and 
spoke  with  a  hectoring  violence.  "1  tell  tha  when 
t'  farrier  cam  oop  last  night,  he  said  she'd  been  man- 
aged first-rate !  If  yo  and  Daffady  had  yor  way  wi' 
yor  fallals  an  yor  nonsense,  yo'd  never  leave  a  poor 
sick  creetur  alone  for  five  minutes;  I  towd  Daffady 
to  let  her  be,  an  I'll  let  him  knaa  who's  measter  here  !  " 

He  glared  at  the  carter,  quite  regardless  of  Laura's 
presence.  Polly  coughed  loudly,  and  tried  to  make 
a  diversion  by  getting  up  to  clear  away  the  plates. 
The  three  combatants  took  no  notice. 

Daffady  slowly  ran  his  tongiie  round  his  lips ;  then 
he  said,  again  looking  at  the  mistress : 


UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  133 

"If  a  hadna  turned  her  I  dew  believe  she'd  ha' 
gien  oos  t'  slip  —  she  was  terr'ble  swollen  as  'twos." 

"  I  tell  tha  to  let  her  be ! "  thundered  Hubert. 
"  If  she  deas,  that's  ma  consarn  ;  I'll  ha'  noa  meddlin 
wi'  my  orders  —  dost  tha  hear  ?  " 

"  Aye,  it  wor  thirrty  poond  thraan  awa  lasst  month, 
an  it'll  be  thirrty  poond  this,"  said  his  mother  slowly ; 
"thoo  art  fine  at  shoutin.  Bit  thy  fadther  had  need 
ha'  addlet  his  brass  —  to  gie  thee  summat  to  thraw 
oot  o'  winder," 

Hubert  rose  from  the  table  with  an  oath,  stood 
for  an  instant  looking  down  at  Laura,  —  glowering, 
and  pulling  fiercely  at  his  moustache,  —  then,  noisily 
opening  the  front  door,  he  strode  across  the  yard  to 
the  byres. 

There  was  an  instant's  silence.  Then  Mrs.  Mason 
rose  with  her  hands  clasped  before  her,  her  eyes 
half  closed. 

"For  what  we  ha'  received,  the  Lord  mak'  us  truly 
thankful,"  she  said  in  a  loud,  nasal  voice.     "  Amen." 

After  dinner,  Laura  put  on  an  apron  of  Polly's, 
and  helped  her  cousin  to  clear  away.  IMrs.  Mason 
had  grufliy  bade  her  sit  still,  but  when  the  girl 
persisted,  she  herself  —  flushed  with  dinner  and  com- 
bat—  took  her  seat  on  the  settle,  opposite  to  old 
Daffady,    and    deliberately   made    holiday,    watching 


134  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

Stephen's  daughter  all  the  time  from  the  black  eyes 
that  roved  and  shone  so  strangely  under  the  shaggy 
brows  and  the  white  hair. 

The  old  cowman  sat  hunched  over  the  fire,  smok- 
ing his  pipe  for  a  time  in  beatific  silence. 

But  presently  Laura,  as  she  went  to  and  fro, 
caught  snatches  of  conversation. 

''  Did  tha  go  ta  Laysgill  last  Sunday  ?  "  said  Mrs. 
Mason  abruptly. 

Daffady  removed  his  pipe. 

"Aye,  a  went,  an  a  preeched.  It  wor  a  varra 
stirrin  meetin.  Sum  o'  yor  paid  preests  sud  ha'  bin 
theer.  A  gien  it  'em  Strang.  A  tried  ta  hit  'em  all 
—  baith  gert  an  lile." 

There  was  a  pause,  then  he  added  placidly : 

"A  likely  suden't  suit  them  varra  weel.  Theer 
was  a  mon  beside  me,  as  pooed  me  down  afoor  a'd 
hofe  doon." 

"Tha  sudna  taak  o'  'paid  preests,'  Daffady,"  said 
Mrs.  Mason  severely.  "  Tha  doosna  understand  nowt 
o'  thattens." 

Daffady  glanced  slyly  at  his  mistress  —  at  the 
"  Church-pride "  implied  in  the  attitude  of  her  ca- 
pacious form,  in  the  shining  of  the  Sunday  alpaca 
and  black  silk  apron. 

"Mebbe  not,"  he  said  mildly,  "mebbe  not."  And 
he  resumed  his  pipe. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  135 

On  another  occasion,  as  Laura  went  flitting  across 
the  kitchen,  drawing  to  herself  the  looks  of  both 
its  inmates,  she  heard,  what  seemed  to  be  a  fragment 
of  talk  about  a  funeral. 

"Aye,  poor  Jenny!"  said  Mrs.  Mason.  "They 
didna  raak'  mich  account  on  her  whan  t'  breath  wor 
yanst  oot  on  her." 

"Nay,"  —  Daffady  shook  his  head  for  sympathy, 
—  "  it  wor  a  varra  poor  set-oot,  wor  Jenny's  buryin. 
Nowt  but  tay,  an  sic-like." 

Mrs.  Mason  raised  two  gaunt  hands  and  let  them 
drop  again  on  her  knee. 

"I  shud  ha'  thcwt  they'd  ha'  bin  ashamed,"  she 
said.  "  Jenny's  brass  ull  do  'em  noa  gude.  She  wor 
a  fule  to  leave  it  to  'un." 

Daffady  withdreAv  his  pipe  again.  His  lantern- 
jawed  face,  furrowed  with  slow  thought,  hung  over 
the  blaze. 

"Aye,"  he  said,  "aye.  Wal,  I've  buried  three 
childer  —  an  I'm  nobbut  a  labrin  mon  —  but  a  thank 
the  Lord  I  ha  buried  them  aw  —  wi'  ham," 

The  last  words  came  out  with  solemnity,  Laura, 
at  the  other  end  of  the  kitchen,  turned  open-mouthed 
to  look  at  the  pair.  Not  a  feature  moved  in  either 
face.  She  sped  back  into  the  dairy,  and  Polly  looked 
up  in  astonishment. 

"What  ails  tha?  "  she  said. 


136  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"Oil,  nothing!"  said  Laura,  dashing  the  merry 
tears  from  her  eyes.  She  proceeded  to  roll  up  her 
sleeves,  and  plunge  her  hands  and  arms  into  the 
bowl  of  warm  water  that  Polly  had  set  before  her. 
Meanwhile,  Polly,  very  big  and  square,  much  red- 
dened also  by  the  fuss  of  household  work,  stood  just 
behind  her  cousin's  shoulder,  looking  down,  half  in 
envy,  half  in  admiration,  at  the  slimness  of  the  white 
wrists  and  pretty  fingers. 

A  little  later  the  two  girls,  all  traces  of  their  house- 
work removed,  came  back  into  the  kitchen.  Daffady 
and  Mrs.  Mason  had  disappeared. 

"  Where  is  Cousin  Elizabeth  ?  "  said  Laura  rather 
sharply,  as  she  looked  round  her. 

Polly  explained  that  her  mother  was  probably  shut 
up  in  her  bedroom  reading  her  Bible.  That  was  her 
custom  on  a  Sunday  afternoon. 

"  Why,  I  haven't  spoken  to  her  at  all ! "  cried 
Laura.     Her  cheek  had  flushed. 

Polly  showed  embarrassment. 

"Next  time  yo  coom,  mother  '11  tak'  mair  noatice. 
She  was  takkiu  stock  o'  you  t'  whole  time,  I'll  up- 
howd  yo." 

"  That  isn't  what  I  wanted,"  said  Laura. 

She  walked  to  the  window  and  leaned  her  head 
against  the  frame.  Polly  watched  her  with  compunc- 
tion, seeing  quite  plainly  the  sudden  drop  of  the  lip. 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  137 

All  she  could  do  was  to  propose  to  show  her  cousin 
the  house. 

Laura  laugiiidly  consented. 

So  they  wandered  again  through  the  dark  stone- 
slabbed  dairy,  with  its  milk  pans  on  the  one  side  and 
its  bacon-curing  troughs  on  the  other;  and  into  the 
little  stuffy  bedrooms  upstairs,  each  with  its  small 
oak  four-poster  and  patchwork  counterpane.  They 
looked  at  the  home-made  quilt  of  goosedown  —  Polly's 
handiwork  —  that  lay  on  Hubert's  bed;  at  the  clus- 
ters of  faded  photographs  and  coloured  prints  that 
hung  on  the  old  uneven  walls ;  at  the  vast  meal-ark 
in  Polly's  room  that  held  the  family  store  of  meal  and 
oatcake  for  the  year. 

"  When  we  wor  little  'uns,  fadther  used  to  give  me 
an  Hubert  a  silver  saxpence  the  day  he  browt  home 
t'  fresh  melder  fro' t'  mill,"  said  Polly;  "theerwas 
parlish  little  nobbut  paritch  and  oatcake  to  eat  when 
we  wor  small.  An  now  I'll  uphold  yo  there  isn't  a 
farm  servant  but  wants  his  white  bread  yanst  a  day 
whativver  happens." 

The  house  was  neat  and  clean,  but  there  were  few 
comforts  in  it,  and  no  luxuries.  It  showed,  too,  a 
nimiber  of  small  dilapidations  that  a  very  little 
money  and  care  would  soon  have  set  to  rights. 
Polly  pointed  to  them  sadly.  There  was  no  money, 
and  Hubert  didn't  trouble  himself.      "Fadther  was 


138  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

alius  workin.  He'd  be  up  at  half-past  four  this  time 
o'  year,  an  he  diclna  go  to  bed  soa  early  noather. 
But  Hubert  'ull  do  nowt  he  can  help.  Yo  can  hardly 
get  him  to  tak'  t'  peats  i'  ter  Whinthorpe  when  t'  peat- 
cote's  brastin  wi'  'em.  An  as  fer  doin  a  job  o'  cartin 
fer  t'  neebors,  t'  horses  may  be  eatin  their  heads  off, 
Hubert  woan't  stir  hissel'.  'Let  'em  lead  their  aan 
muck  for  theirsels '  —  that's  what  he'll  say.  Iver  sen 
fadther  deed  it's  bin  janglin  atwixt  mother  an  Hubert. 
It  makes  her  mad  to  see  iverything  goin  downhill. 
An  he's  that  masterful  he  woan't  be  towd,  Yo  saw 
how  he  went  on  wi'  Daffady  at  dinner.  But  if  it 
weren't  for  Daffady  an  us,  there'd  be  no  stock  left." 

And  poor  Polly,  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  meal- 
ark  and  dangling  her  large  feet,  went  into  a  number 
of  plaintive  details,  that  were  mostly  unintelligible, 
sometimes  repulsive,  in  Laura's  ears. 

It  seemed  that  Hubert  was  always  threatening  to 
leave  the  farm.  "Give  me  a  bit  of  money,  and 
you'll  soon  be  quit  of  me.  I'll  go  to  Froswick, 
and  make  my  fortune"  —  that  was  what  he'd  say 
to  his  mother.  But  who  was  going  to  give  him 
money  to  throw  about  ?  And  he  couldn't  sell  the 
farm  while  Mrs.  Mason  lived,  by  the  father's  will. 

As  to  her  mother,  Polly  admitted  that  she  was 
"gey  ill  to  live  wi'."  There  was  no  one  like  her 
for  "addlin    a    bit    here    and    addlin    a    bit    there." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  139 

She  was  the  best  maker  and  seller  of  butter  in  the 
country-side;  but  she  had  been  queer  about  religion 
ever  since  an  illness  that  attacked  her  as  a  yoimg 
woman. 

And  now  it  was  Mr.  Bayley,  the  minister,  who 
excited  her,  and  made  her  worse.  Polly,  for  her 
part,  hated  him.  "  My  Avorrd,  he  do  taak ! "  said 
she.  And  every  Sunday  he  preached  against  Catho- 
lics, and  the  Pope,  and  such  like.  And  as  there 
were  no  Catholics  anywhere  near,  but  Mr.  Helbeck 
at  Bannisdale,  and  a  certain  number  at  Whinthorpe, 
people  didn't  know  what  to  make  of  him.  And 
they  laughed  at  him,  and  left  off  going  —  except 
occasionally  for  curiosity,  because  he  preached  in 
a  black  gown,  which,  so  Polly  heard  tell,  was  very 
uncommon  nowadays.  But  mother  would  listen  to 
him  by  the  hour.  And  it  was  all  along  of  Teddy 
Williams.     It  was  that  had  set  her  mad. 

Here,  however,  Polly  broke  off  to  ask  an  eager 
question.  AMiat  had  Mr.  Helbeck  said  when  Laura 
told  him  of  her  wish  to  go  and  see  her  cousins  ? 

"I'll  warrant  he  wasn't  best  pleased!  Feyther 
couldn't  abide  him — because  of  Teddy.  He  didn't 
thraw  no  stones  that  neet  i'  Whinthrupp  Lane  — 
feyther  was  a  strict  man  and  read  his  Bible  reg'lar 
—  but  he  stood  wi'  t'  lads  an  looked  on  —  he  didn't 
say  owt  to  stop  'em.     Mr.  Helbeck  called  to  him  — 


140  llELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

lie  had  a  priest  witli  liiiii  — '  Mr.  Mason ! '  he  ses, 
'  this  is  an  old  man  —  speak  to  those  fellows ! ' 
But  feyther  wouldn't.  '  Let  'em  trounce  tha ! '  he 
ses — 'aye,  an  him  too!  It'ull  do  tha  noa  harm.' 
—  Well,  an  what  did  he  say,  Mr.  Helbeck?  — I'd 
like  to  know." 

"Say?  Nothing  —  except  that  it  was  a  long  way, 
and  I  might  have  the  pony  carriage." 

Laura's  tone  was  rather  dry.  She  was  sitting  on 
the  edge*  of  Polly's  bed,  with  her  arm  round  one 
of  its  oaken  posts.  Her  cheek  was  laid  against 
the  post,  and  her  eyes  had  been  wandering  about 
a  good  deal  while  Polly  talked.  Till  the  mention 
of  Helbeck.  Then  her  attention  came  back.  And 
during  Polly's  account  of  the  incident  in  Whinthorpe 
Lane,  she  began  to  frown.  What  bigotry,  after  all! 
As  to  the  story  of  young  Williams  —  it  was  very 
perplexing  —  she  would  get  the  truth  of  it  out  of 
Augustina.  But  it  was  extraordinary  that  it  should 
be  so  well  known  in  this  upland  farm  —  that  it 
should  make  a  kind  of  link  —  a  link  of  hatred — 
between  Mr.  Helbeck  and  the  Masons.  After  her 
movement  of  wild  sympathy  with  Mrs.  Mason,  she 
realised  now,  as  Polly's  chatter  slipped  on,  that  she 
understood  her  cousins  almost  as  little  as  she  did 
Helbeck. 

Nay,  more.     The  picture  of   Helbeck    stoned   and 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  141 

abused  Ijy  these  rough,  uneducated  folk  liad  begun 
to  rouse  in  her  a  curious  sympathy.  Unwillingly 
her  mind  invested  him  with  a  new  dignity. 

So  that  when  Polly  told  a  rambling  story  of  how 
Mr.  Bayley,  after  the  street  fight,  had  met  Mr.  Hel 
beck  at  a  workhouse  meeting  and  had  placed  his  hands 
behind  his  back  when  Mr.  Helbeck  offered  his  own, 
Laura  tossed  her  head. 

''What  a  ridiculous  man!"  she  said  disdainfully; 
"  what  can  it  matter  to  INIr.  Helbeck  whether  Mr.  Bay- 
ley  shakes  hands  with  him  or  not  ?  " 

Polly  looked  at  her  in  some  astonishment,  and 
dropped  the  subject.  The  elder  woman,  conscious  of 
plainness  and  inferiority,  was  humbly  anxious  to  please 
her  new  cousin.  The  girl's  delicate  and  characteristic 
physique,  her  clear  eyes  and  decided  ways,  and  a  cer- 
tain look  she  had  in  conversation  —  half  absent,  half 
critical  —  which  was  inherited  from  her  father,  —  all 
of  them  oom1)ined  to  intimidate  the  homely  Polly,  and 
she  felt  perhaps  less  at  ease  with  her  visitor  as  she 
saw  more  of  her. 

Presently  they  stood  before  some  old  photographs  on 
Polly's  mantelpiece ;  Polly  looked  timidly  at  her  cousin. 

"Doan't  yo  think  as  Hubert's  verra  handsome?" 
she  said. 

And  taking  up  one  of  the  portraits,  she  brushed  it 
with  her  sleeve  and  handed  it  to  Laura. 


142  HELBECK  OF  BANNI8DALE 

Laura  held  it  up  for  scrutiny. 

"No — o,"  she  said  coolly,  "uot  really  handsome." 

Polly  looked  disappointed. 

"  There's  not  a  mony  gells  aboot  here  as  doan't  coe 
Hubert  handsome,"  she  said  with  emphasis. 

"  It's  Hubert's  business  to  call  the  girls  handsome," 
said  Laura,  laughing,  and  handing  back  the  picture. 

Polly  grinned  —  then  suddenly  looked  grave. 

"  I  wish  he'd  leave  t'  gells  alone  !  "  she  said  with  an 
accent  of  some  energy,  "he'll  mappen  get  into  trooble 
yan  o'  these  days  !  " 

"  They  don't  keep  him  in  his  place,  I  suppose,"  said 
Laura,  flushing,  she  hardly  knew  why.  She  got  up 
and  walked  across  the  room  to  the  window.  What 
did  she  want  to  know  about  Hubert  and  "  t'  gells  "  ? 
She  hated  vulgar  and  lazy  young  men !  —  though  they 
might  have  a  musical  gift  that,  so  to  speak,  did  not 
belong  to  them. 

Nevertheless  she  turned  round  again  to  ask,  with 
some  imperiousness, — 

"Where  is  your  brother?  —  what  is  he  doing  all 
this  time?" 

"  Sittin  alongside  the  coo,  I  dare  say  —  lest  Daffady 
should  be  gettin  the  credit  of  her,"  said  Polly,  laugh- 
ing. "The  poor  creettir  fell  three  days  sen  —  summat 
like  a  stroke,  t'  farrier  said,  —  an  Hubert's  bin  that 
jealous   o'    Daffady   iver   sen.     He's   actually   poo'ed 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  143 

liisser  oot  o'  bed  niornins  to  hike  after  her!  —  Lord 
bless  us  —  I  mun  goa  an  feed  t'  calves ! " 

And  hastily  throwing  an  apron  over  her  Sunday 
gown,  Polly  clattered  down  the  stairs  in  a  whirlwind. 

Laura  followed  her  more  leisurely,  passed  through 
the  empty  kitchen  and  opened  the  front  door. 

As  she  stood  under  the  porch  looking  out,  she  put 
up  a  small  hand  to  hide  a  yawn.  When  she  set  out 
that  morning  she  had  meant  to  spend  the  whole  day 
at  the  farm.  Now  it  was  not  yet  tea-time,  and  she 
was  more  than  ready  to  go.  In  truth  her  heart  was 
hot,  and  rather  bitter.  Cousin  Elizabeth,  certainly, 
had  treated  her  with  a  strange  coolness.  And  as 
for  Hubert  —  after  that  burst  of  friendship,  beside 
the  piano!  She  drew  herself  together  sharply  — 
she  would  go  at  once  and  ask  him  for  her  pony 
cart. 

Lifting  her-  skirt  daintily,  she  picked  her  way  across 
the  dirty  yard,  and  fumbled  at  a  door  opposite  —  the 
door  whence  she  had  seen  old  Daffady  come  out  at 
dinner-time. 

"  Who's  there  ?  "  shouted  a  threatening  voice  from 
within. 

Laura  succeeded  in  liftii^  the  clumsy  latch. 
Hubert  Mason,  from  inside,  saw  a  small  golden 
head  appear  in  the  doorway. 


144  H  EL  BECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

"  Would  you  kindly  help  me  get  the  pony  cart  ?  " 
said  the  light,  half-sarcastic  voice  of  Miss  Fountain. 
"  I  must  be  going,  and  Polly's  feeding  the  calves." 

Her  eyes  at  first  distinguished  nothing  but  a  row 
of  dim  animal  forms,  in  crowded  stalls  vmder  a  low 
roof.  Then  she  saw  a  cow  lying  on  the  ground,  and 
Hubert  Mason  beside  her,  amid  the  wreaths  of  smoke 
that  he  was  puffing  from  a  clay  pipe.  The  place 
was  dark,  close,  and  fetid.  She  withdrew  her  head 
hastily.  There  was  a  muttering  and  movement  in- 
side, and  Mason  came  to  the  door,  thrusting  his  pipe 
into  his  pocket. 

"What  do  you  want  to  go  for,  just  yet  ?"  he  said 
abruptly. 

"  I  ought  to  get  home." 

"  Ko ;  you  don't  care  for  us,  nor  our  ways.  That's 
it ;  an  I  don't  wonder." 

She  made  polite  protestations,  but  he  would  not 
listen  to  them.  He  strode  on  beside  her  in  a  stormy 
silence,  till  the  impulse  to  prick  him  overmastered  her. 

"  Do  you  generally  sit  with  the  cows  ?  "  she  asked 
him  sweetly.  She  shot  her  grey  eyes  towards  him, 
all  mockery  and  cool  examination.  He  was  not 
accustomed  to  such  looks  from  the  young  women 
whom  he  chose  to  notice. 

"  I  was  not  going  to  stay  and  be  treated  like  that 
before  strangers ! "  he  said,  with  a  sulky   fierceness. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  145 

"Mother  thinks  she  and  Daffady  can  just  have  their 
own  Avay  with  nie,  as  they'd  used  to  do  when  I  was 
nobbut  a  lad.  But  I'll  let  her  know  —  aye,  and  the 
men  too !  " 

"But  if  you  hate  farming,  why  don't  you  let 
Daffady  do  the  work?" 

Her  sly  voice  stung  him  afresh. 

"Because  I'll  be  measter!"  he  said,  bringing  his 
hand  violently  down  on  the  shaft  of  the  pony  cart. 
"If  I'm  to  stay  on  in  this  beastly  hole  I'll  make 
every  one  knaw  their  place.  Let  mother  give  me 
some  money,  an  I'll  soon  take  myself  off,  an  leave 
her  an  Daffady  to  draAV  their  oAvn  water  their  own 
way.  But  if  I'm  here  I'm  measter ! "  He  struck  the 
cart  again. 

"  Is  it  true  you  don't  work  nearly  as  hard  as  your 
father  ?  " 

He  looked  at  her  amazed.  If  Susie  Flinders  down 
at  the  mill  had  spoken  to  him  like  that,  he  would 
have  known  how  to  shut  her  mouth  for  her. 

"An  I  daur  say  it  is,"  he  said  hotly.  "I'm  not 
goin  to  lead  the  dog's  life  my  father  did  —  all  for 
the  sake  of  diddlin  another  sixpence  or  two  oot  o' 
the  neighbours.  Let  mother  give  me  my  money  oot 
o'  the  farm.  I'd  go  to  Froswick  fast  enough.  That's 
the  place  to  get  on.  I've  got  friends  —  I'd  work  up 
in  no  time." 

VOL.    I.  L 


146  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Laura  glanced  at  liini.     She  said  nothing. 

"  You  doan't  think  I  would  ? "  he  asked  her  an- 
grily, pausing  in  his  handling  of  the  harness  to 
throw  back  the  challenge  of  her  manner.  His  wrath 
seemed  to  have  made  him  handsomer,  better-braced, 
more  alive.  Physically  she  admired  him  for  the 
first  time,  as  he  stood  confronting  her. 

But  she  only  lifted  her  eyebrows  a  little. 

"I  thought  one  had  to  have  a  particular  kind  of 
brains  for  business  —  and  begin  early,  too  ?  " 

"  I  could  learn,"  he  said  gruffly,  after  which  they 
were  both  silent  till  the  harnessing  was  done. 

Then  he  looked  up. 

"I'd  like  to  drive  you  to  the  bridge  —  if  you're 
agreeable  ?  " 

"  Oh,  don't  trouble  yourself,  pray ! "  she  said  in 
polite  haste. 

His  brows  knit  again. 

"  I  know  how  'tis  —  you  Avon't  come  here  again." 

Her  little  face  changed. 

"  I'd  like  to,"  she  said,  her  voice  wavering,  "  be- 
cause papa  used  to  stay  here." 

He  stared  at  her. 

"  1  do  remember  Cousin  Stephen,"  he  said  at  last, 
"though  I  towd  you  I  didn't.  I  can  see  him  standing 
at  the  door  there  — wi'  a  big  hat —  an  a  beard  —  like 
straw  —  an  a  check  coat  wi'  great  bulgin  pockets." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  147 

He  stopped  iu  amazement,  seeing  the  sudden  beauty 
of  her  eyes  and  cheeks. 

"  That's  it,"  she  said,  leaning  towards  him.  "  Oh, 
that's  it ! "  She  closed  her  eyes  a  moment,  her  small  lips 
trembling.    Then  she  opened  them  with  a  long  breath. 

"  Yes,  you  may  drive  me  to  the  bridge  if  you  like." 

And  on  the  drive  she  was  another  being.  She 
talked  to  him  about  music,  so  softly  and  kindly  that 
the  young  man's  head  swam  with  pleasure.  All  her 
own  musical  enthusiasms  and  experiences  —  the  music 
in  the  college  chapels,  the  music  at  the  Greek  plays, 
the  few  London  concerts  and  operas  she  had  heard, 
her  teachers  and  her  hero-worships  —  she  drew  upon 
it  all  in  her  round  light  voice,  he  joining  in  from 
time  to  time  with  a  rough  passion  and  yearning  that 
seemed  to  transfigure  him.  In  half  an  hour,  as  it 
were,  they  were  friends ;  their  relations  changed 
wholly.  He  looked  at  her  with  all  his  eyes ;  hung 
upon  her  with  all  his  ears.  And  she  —  she  forgot 
that  he  was  vulgar  and  a  clown ;  such  breathless 
pleasure,  such  a  humble  absorption  in  siiperior  wis- 
dom, would  have  blunted  the  sternest  standard. 

As  for  him,  the  minutes  flew.  When  at  last  the 
bridge  over  the  Bannisdale  River  came  iu  sight,  he 
began  to  check  the  pony. 

"  Let's  drive  on  a  bit,"  he  said  entreatingly. 


148  IIELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

"No,  no  —  I  must  get  back  to  Mrs.  Fountain." 
\.nd  she  took  the  reins  from  his  hands. 

"  I  say,  when  will  you  come  again  ?  " 

"Oh,  I  don't  know."  She  had  put  on  once  more 
the  stand-off  town-bred  manner  that  puzzled  his 
countryman's  sense. 

"  I  say,  mother  shan't  talk  that  stuff  to  you  next 
time.  I'll  tell  her — "  he  said  imijloringly. — 
"  Halloa  !  let  me  out,  will  you  ?  " 

And  to  her  amazement,  before  she  could  draw  in 
the  pony,  he  had  jumped  out  of  the  cart. 

"  There's  Mr.  Helbeck ! "  he  said  to  her  with  a 
crimson  face.     ''  I'm  off.     Good-bye ! " 

He  shook  her  hand  hastily,  turned  his  back,  and 
strode  away. 

She  looked  towards  the  gate  in  some  bewilderment, 
and  saw  that  Helbeck  was  holding  it  open  for  her. 
Beside  him  stood  a  tall  priest  —  not  Father  Bowles. 
It  was  evident  that  both  of  them  had  seen  her  parting 
from  her  cousin. 

Well,  what  then  ?  What  was  there  in  that,  or  in 
Mr.  Helbeck's  ceremonious  greeting,  to  make  her 
cheeks  hot  all  in  a  moment  ?  She  could  have  beaten 
herself  for  a  silly  lack  of  self-possession.  Still  more 
could  she  have  beaten  Hubert  for  his  clownish  and 
hurried  departure.  What  was  he  afraid  of  ?  Did 
he  think  that  she  would  have  shown  the  smallest 
sliame  of  her  peasant  relations  ? 


CHAPTER  VI 

"  Is  that  Mrs.  Fountain's  stepdaughter  ? "  said 
Helbeck's  companion,  as  Laura  and.  her  cart  disap- 
peared round  a  corner  of  the  winding  road  on  which 
the  two  men  were  walking. 

Helbeck  made  a  sign  of  assent. 

"  You  may  very  possibly  have  known  her  father  ?  " 
He  named  the  Cambridge  college  of  Avhich  Stephen 
Fountain  had  been  a  Fellow. 

The  Jesuit,  who  was  a  convert,  and  had  been 
a  distinguished  Cambridge  man,  considered  for  a 
moment. 

"  Oh  !  yes  —  I  remember  the  man  !  A  strange 
being,  who  was-  only  heard  of,  if  I  recollect  right,  in 
times  of  war.  If  there  was  any  dispute  going  — 
especially  on  a  religious  point  —  Stephen  Fountain 
would  rush  into  it  with  l)road-sheets.  Oh,  yes,  I  re- 
member him  perfectly  —  a  great  untidy,  fair-haired, 
truculent  fellow,  to  whom  anybody  that  took  any 
thought  for  his  soul  was  cither  fool  or  knave.  How 
inucli  of  liiin   does  the  daughter  inherit?" 

Helbeck    returned    the   other's    smile.      "A   large 

149 


150  HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

slice,  I  think.  She  comes  here  in  the  curious  posi- 
tion of  having  never  lived  in  a  Christian  household 
before,  and  she  seems  already  to  have  great  difficulty 
in  putting  up  with  us." 

Father  Leadham  laughed,  then  looked  reflective. 

"How  often  have  I  known  that  the  best  of  all 
possible  beginnings !  Is  she  attached  to  her  step- 
mother ?  " 

"Yes.  But  Mrs.  Fountain  has  no  influence  over 
her." 

"It  is  a  striking  colouring  —  that  white  skin  and 
reddish  hair.  And  it  is  a  face  of  some  power, 
too." 

"Power?"  Ilelbeck  demurred.  "I  think  she  is 
clever,"  he  said  dryly.  "  And,  of  course,  coming 
from  a  university  town,  she  has  heard  of  things 
that  other  girls  know  nothing  of.  But  she  has  had 
no  training,  moral  or  intellectual." 

"  And  no  Christian  education  ?  " 

Helbeck  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  She  was  only  baptized  with  difficulty.  When  she 
was  eleven  or  twelve  she  was  allowed  to  go  to  church 
two  or  three  times,  I  understand,  on  the  helot  prin- 
ciple—  was  soon  disgusted  —  her  father  of  course 
supplying  a  running  comment  at  home  —  and  she 
has  stood  absolutely  outside  religion  of  all  kinds 
since." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  151 

''Poor  child!"  said  tlie  priest  with  heartiness. 
The  paternal  note  in  the  words  was  more  than  offi- 
cial. He  "was  a  widower,  and  had  lost  his  wife  and 
infant  daughter  two  years  before  his  entrance  into 
the  Church  of  Eome. 

Helbeck  smiled.  "I  assure  you  Miss  Fountain 
spends  none  of  her  pity  i;pon  herself." 

"I  dare  say  more  than  you  think.  The  position 
of  the  unbeliever  in  a  house  like  yours  is  always  a 
painful  one.  You  see  she  is  alone.  There  must  be 
a  sense  of  exile  —  of  something  touching  and  pro- 
found going  on  beside  her,  from  which  she  is  ex- 
cluded. She  comes  into  a  house  with  a  chapel, 
where  the  Blessed  Sacrament  is  reserved,  where 
everybody  is  keeping  a  strict  Lent.  She  has  not  a 
single  thought  in  common  with  you  all.  No ;  I 
am  very  sorry  for  Miss  Fountain." 

Helbeck  was  silent  a  moment.  His  dark  face 
showed  a  shade  of  disturbance. 

"She  has  some  relations  near  here,"  he  said  at 
last,  "but  unfortunately  I  can't  do  much  to  pro- 
mote her  seeing  them.  You  remember  Williams's 
story  ?  " 

"  Of  course.  You  had  some  local  row,  didn't  you  ? 
Ah !  I  remember." 

And  the  two  men  walked  on,  discussing  a  case  which 
had  been  and  was  still  of  great  interest  to  them  as 


152  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Catholics.  The  hero,  moreover  —  the  Jesuit  novice 
himself — was  well  known  to  them  both. 

"  So  Miss  Fountain's  relations  belong  to  that  peas- 
ant class  ?  "  said  the  Jesuit,  musing.  "  How  curious 
that  she  should  find  herself  in  such  a  double  relation 
to  you  and  Bannisdale  ! " 

"Consider  me  a  little,  if  you  please,"  said  Helbeck, 
with  his  slight,  rare  smile.  "  While  that  young  lady 
is  under  my  roof  —  you  see  how  attractive  she  is  —  I 
cannot  get  rid,  you  will  admit,  of  a  certain  responsi- 
bility. Augustina  has  neither  the  Avill  nor  the 
authority  of  a  mother,  and  there  is  literally  no  one 
else.  Now  there  hajjpens  to  be  a  young  man  in  this 
Mason  family " 

"  Ah ! "  said  the  priest ;  "  the  young  gentleman  who 
jumped  out  at  the  bridge,  with  such  a  very  light  pair 
of  heels  ?  " 

Helbeck  nodded.  "The  old  people  were  peasants 
and  fanatics.  They  thought  ill  of  me  in  the  Williams 
affair,  and  the  mother,  who  is  still  alive,  would  gladly 
hang  and  quarter  me  to-morrow  if  she  could.  But  that 
is  another  point.  The  old  peojile  had  their  own  dig- 
nity, their  own  manners  and  virtues  —  or,  rather,  the 
manners  and  virtues  of  their  class.  The  old  man  was 
coarse  and  boorish,  but  he  was  hard-working  and  hon- 
ourable, and  a  Christian  after  his  own  sort.  But  the 
old  man  is  dead,  and  the  son,  who  now  works  the  farm 


HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE  153 

jointly  with  his  mother,  is  of  no  class  and  no  charac- 
ter. He  has  just  education  enough  to  despise  his 
father  and  his  father's  hard  work.  He  talks  the  dia- 
lect with  his  inferiors,  or  his  kindred,  and  drops  it 
with  you  and  me.  The  old  traditions  have  no  hold 
upon  him,  and  he  is  just  a  vulgar  and  rather  vicious 
hybrid,  who  drinks  more  than  is  good  for  him  and  has 
a  natural  affinity  for  any  sort  of  low  love-affair.  I 
came  across  him  at  our  last  hunt  ball.  I  never  go  to 
such  things,  but  last  year  I  went." 

"Good!"  ejaculated  the  Jesuit,  turning  a  friendly 
face  upon  the  speaker. 

Helbeck  paused.  The  word,  still  more  the  empha- 
sis with  which  it  was  thrown  out,  challenged  him. 
He  was  about  to  defend  himself  against  an  implied 
charge,  but  thought  better  of  it,  and  resumed : 

"  And  unfortunately,  considering  the  way  in  which 
all  the  clan  felt  towards  me  already,  I  found  this 
youth  in  the  supper-room,  misbehaving  himself  with  a 
girl  of  his  own  sort,  and  very  dnuik.  I  fetched  a 
steward,  and  he  was  told  to  go.  After  which,  you 
may  imagine  that  it  is  scarcely  agreeable  to  me  to  see 
my  guest — a  very  young  lady,  very  pretty,  very  dis- 
tinguished—  driving  about  the  country  in  cousinly 
relations  with  this  creature  !  " 

The  last  words  were  spoken  with  considerable 
vivacity.     The  aristocrat  and  the  ascetic,  the  man  of 


154  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

high  family  and  the  man  of  scrupulous  and  fastidious 
charaeter,  were  alike  expressed  in  tliem. 

The  Jesuit  pondered  a  little. 

"  ISTo ;  you  will  have  to  keep  watch.  Why  not  dis- 
tract her  ?  You  must  have  plenty  of  other  neighbours 
to  show  her." 

Helbeck  shook  his  head. 

"  I  live  like  a  hermit.  My  sister  is  in  the  first  year 
of  her  widowhood  and  very  delicate." 

"  I  see."  The  Jesuit  hesitated,  then  said,  smiling, 
in  the  tone  of  one  who  makes  a  venture :  "  The  Bishop 
and  I  allowed  ourselves  to  discuss  these  cloistered 
ways  of  yours  the  other  day.  We  thought  you  would 
forgive  us  as  a  pair  of  old  friends." 

"I  know,"  was  the  somewhat  quick  interruption, 
"the  Bishop  is  of  Manning's  temper  in  these  things. 
He  believes  in  acting  on  and  with  the  Protestant 
world  —  in  our  claiming  prominence  as  citizens.  It 
was  to  please  him  that  I  joined  one  or  two  committees 
last  year — that  I  went  to  the  hunt  ball " 

Then,  suddenly,  in  a  very  characteristic  way,  Hel- 
beck checked  his  own  flow  of  speech,  and  resumed 
more  quietly :  "  Well,  all  that " 

"  Leaves  you  of  the  same  opinion  still  ?  "  said  the 
Jesuit,  smiling. 

"Precisely.  I  don't  belong  to  my  neighbours,  nor 
they  to  me.     We  don't  speak  the  same  language,  and 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  155 

I  can't  bring  myself  to  speak  theirs.  The  old  condi 
tions  are  gone,  I  know.  But  my  feeling  remains 
pretty  much  what  that  of  my  forefathers  was.  I  rec- 
ognise that  it  is  not  common  nowadays  —  but  I  have 
the  old  maxim  in  my  blood :  '  Extra  ecclesiam  nulla 
salus.' " 

"There  is  none  which  has  done  us  more  deadly 
harm  in  England,"  cried  the  Jesuit.  "  We  forget 
that  England  is  a  baptized  nation,  and  is  therefore  in 
the  supernatural  state." 

"I  remind  myself  of  it  very  often,"  said  Helbeck, 
with  a  kind  of  proud  submission;  "and  I  judge  no 
man.  But  my  powers,  my  time,  are  all  limited. 
I  prefer  to  devote  them  to  the  ^household  of 
faith.' " 

The  two  men  walked  on  in  silence  for  a  time. 
Presently  Father  Leadham's  face  showed  amusement, 
and  he  said : 

"  Certainly  we  modern  converts  have  a  better  time 
of  it  than  our  predecessors !  The  Bishop  tells  me  the 
most  incredible  things  about  the  old  feeling  towards 
them  in  this  Vicariate.  And  wherever  I  go  I  seem  to 
hear  the  tale  of  the  old  priest  who  thanked  God  that 
he  had  never  received  anyone  into  the  Chnrch.  Every- 
body has  met  someone  who  knew  that  old  fellow  I 
He  may  be  a  myth  —  but  there  is  clearly  history  at 
the  back  of  him ! " 


156  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"I  understand,  him  perfectly,"  said  Helbeck,  smil- 
ing; and  he  added  immediately,  with  a  curious  inten- 
sity, "  I,  too,  have  never  influenced,  never  tried  to 
influence,  anyone  in  my  life." 

The  priest  looked  at  him,  wondering. 

"  Not  Williams  ?  " 

*' Williams!  But  Williams  was  born  for  the  faith. 
Directly  he  saw  what  I  wanted  to  do  in  the  chapel, 
he  prayed  to  come  and  help  me.  It  was  his  summer 
holiday  —  he  neglected  no  duty ;  it  was  wonderful  to 
see  his  happiness  in  the  work  —  as  I  thought,  an 
artistic  happiness  only.  He  used  to  ask  me  questions 
about  the  different  saints ;  once  or  tAvice  he  borrowed 
a  book  —  it  was  necessary  to  get  the  emblems  correct. 
But  I  never  said  a  single  controversial  word  to  him. 
I  never  debated  religious  subjects  with  him  at  all, 
till  the  night  when  he  took  refuge  with  me  after  his 
father  had  thrashed  him  so  cruelly  that  he  could  not 
stand.     Grace  taught  him,  not  I." 

''Grace  taught  him,  but  through  you,"  said  the 
priest  with  quiet  emphasis.  ''Perhaps  I  know  more 
about  that  than  you  do." 

Helbeck  flushed. 

"  I  think  you  are  mistaken.  At  any  rate,  I  should 
prefer  that  you  were  mistaken." 

The  priest  raised  his  eyebrows. 

"A   man   who    holds    'no    salvation    outside   the 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  167 

Church,'"  he  said  slowly,  "and  rejoices  in  the 
thought  that  he  has  never  influenced  anybody  ? " 

"I  should  hope  little  from  the  work  achieved  by 
such  an  instrument.  Some  men  have  enough  to  do 
with  their  own  souls,"  was  the  low  but  vehement 
answer. 

The  priest  threw  a  wondering  glance  at  his  com- 
panion, at  the  signs  of  feeling  —  profound  and  morbid 
feeling  —  on  the  harsh  face  beside  him. 

"  Perhaps  you  have  never  cared  enough  for  anyone 
outside  to  wish  passionately  to  bring  them  within," 
he  said.  "  But  if  that  ever  happens  to  you,  you  will 
be  ready  —  I  think  you  will  be  ready  —  to  use  any 
tool,  even  yourself." 

The  priest's  voice  changed  a  little.  Helbeck,  some- 
what startled,  recalled  the  facts  of  Father  Leadham's 
personal  history,  and  thought  he  understood.  The 
subject  was  instantly  dropped,  and  the  two  men 
walked  on  to  the  house,  discussing  a  great  canonisa- 
tion service  at  St.  Peter's  and  the  Pope's  personal 
part  in  it. 

The  old  Hall,  as  Helbeck  and  Father  Leadham 
approached  it,  looked  down  upon  a  scene  of  anima- 
tion to  which  in  these  latter  days  it  Avas  but  little 
accustomed.  The  green  spaces  and  gravelled  walks 
in  front   of   it  were  sprinkled   with  groups   of  chil- 


158  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

dren  in  a  blue-and-white  uniform.  Three  or  foui 
Sisters  of  Mercy  in  their  winged  white  caps  moved 
about  among  them,  and  some  of  the  children  hung 
clustered  like  bees  about  the  Sisters'  skirts,  while 
others  ran  here  and  there,  gleefully  picking  the 
scattered  daffodils  that  starred  the  grass. 

The  invaders  came  from  the  Orphanage  of  St. 
Ursula,  a  house  founded  by  Mr.  Helbeck's  exertions, 
which  lay  half-way  between  Bannisdale  and  Whin- 
thorpe.  They  had  not  long  arrived,  and  were  now 
waiting  for  Eosary  and  Benediction  in  the  chapel 
before  they  were  admitted  to  the  tea  which  Mrs. 
Denton  and  Augustina  had  already  spread  for  them 
in  the  big  hall. 

At  sight  of  the  children  Helbeck's  face  lit  up  and 
his  step  quickened.  They  on  their  side  ran  to  him 
from  all  parts ;  and  he  had  hardly  time  to  greet  the 
Sisters  in  charge  of  them,  before  the  eager  creatures 
were  pulling  him  into  the  walled  garden  behind  the 
Hall,  one  small  girl  hanging  on  his  hand,  another 
perched  upon  his  shoulder.  Father  Leadham  went 
into  the  house  to  prepare  for  the  service. 

The  garden  was  old  and  dark,  like  the  Tudor  house 
that  stood  between  it  and  the  sun.  Eows  of  fantastic 
shapes  carved  in  living  yew  and  box  stood  ranged 
along  the  straight  walks.  A  bowling-green  enclosed 
in  high  beech  hedges  was  placed  in  the  exact  centre 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  150 

of  the  whole  formal  place,  while  the  walks  and  alleys 
from  three  sides,  west,  north,  and  south,  converged 
upon  it,  according  to  a  plan  unaltered  since  it  was 
first  laid  down  in  the  days  of  James  II.  At  this 
time  of  the  year  there  were  no  flowers  in  the  stiff 
flower-beds;  for  Mr.  Helbeck  had  long  ceased  to 
spend  any  but  the  most  necessary  monies  upon  his 
garden.  Only  upon  the  high  stone  walls  that  begirt 
this  strange  and  melancholy  pleasure-ground,  and  in 
the  "  wilderness "  that  lay  on  the  eastern  side,  be- 
tween the  garden  and  the  fell,  Avere  nature  and  the 
spring  allowed  to  show  themselves.  Their  joint 
magic  had  covered  the  old  walls  with  fruit  blossom 
and  spread  the  "  wilderness "  with  daffodils.  Other- 
wise all  was  dark,  tortured,  fantastic,  a  monument  of 
old-world  caprice  that  the  heart  could  not  love, 
though  piety  might  not  destroy  it. 

The  children,  however,  brought  life  and  brightness. 
They  chased  each  other  up  and  down  the  paths,  and 
in  and  out  of  the  bowling-green.  Helbeck  set  them 
to  games,  and  played  with  them  himself.  Only  for 
the  orphans  now  did  he  ever  thus  recall  his  youth. 

Two  Sisters,  one  comparatively  young,  the  other  a 
woman  of  fifty,  stood  in  an  opening  of  the  bowling- 
green,  looking  at  the  games. 

The  younger  one  said  to  her  companion,  who  was 
the  Superior  of  the  orphanage,  "  I  do  like  to  see  Mr. 


160  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Helbeck  with  the  chihlren !     It  seems  to  change  him 
altogether." 

She  spoke  with  eager  sympathy,  while  her  eyes, 
the  visionary  eyes  of  the  typical  religious,  sunk  in  a 
face  that  was  at  once  sweet  and  peevish,  followed  the 
children  and  their  host. 

The  other  —  shrewd-faced  and  large  —  had  a  move- 
ment of  impatience. 

"  I  should  like  to  see  Mr.  Helbeck  with  some  chil- 
dren of  his  own.  For  five  years  now  I  have  prayed 
our  Blessed  Mother  to  give  him  a  good  Avife.  That's 
what  he  wants.     Ah  !  Mrs.  Fountain " 

And  as  Augustina  advanced  with  her  little  languid 
air,  accompanied  by  her  stepdaughter,  the  Sisters 
gathered  round  her,  chattering  and  cooing,  showing 
her  a  hundred  attentions,  enveloping  her  in  a  hom- 
age that  was  partly  addressed  to  the  sister  of 
their  benefactor,  and  partly  —  as  she  well  under- 
stood—  to  the  sheep  that  had  been  lost  and  was 
found.  To  the  stepdaughter  they  showed  a  courte- 
ous reserve.  One  or  two  of  them  had  already  made 
acquaintance  with  her,  and  had  not  found  her  amiable. 

And,  indeed,  Laura  held  herself  aloof,  as  before. 
But  she  shot  a  glance  of  curiosity  at  the  elderly 
woman  who  had  wished  Mr.  Helbeck  a  good  wife. 
The  girl  had  caught  the  remark  as  she  and  her 
stepmother  turned  the  corner  of  the  dense  beechen 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  161 

hedge  that,  with  openings  to  each  point  of  the 
compass,  enclosed  the  bowling-green. 

Presently  Helbeck,  stopping  to  take  breath  in  a 
game  of  which  he  had  been  the  life,  caught  sight 
of  the  slim  figure  against  the  red-brown  of  the 
hedge.  The  next  moment  he  perceived  that  Miss 
Fountain  was  watching  him  with  an  expression  of 
astonishment. 

His  first  instinct  was  to  let  her  be.  Her  manner 
towards  him  since  her  arrival,  with  hardly  a  break, 
had  been  such  as  to  chill  the  most  sociable  temper. 
And  Helbeck's  temper  was  far  from  sociable. 

But  something  in  her  attitude  —  perhaps  its  soli- 
tariness—  made  him  uncomfortable.  He  went  up  to 
her,  dragging  with  him  a  crowd  of  small  children, 
who  tugged  at  his  coat  and  hands. 

"  Miss  Fountain,  will  you  take  pity  on  us  ?  My 
breath  is  gone." 

He  saw  her  hesitate.  Then  her  sudden  smile 
broke  out. 

"  What'll  you  have  ?  "  she  said,  catching  hold  of 
the  nearest  child.     "Mother  Bunch?" 

And  off  she  flew,  running,  twisting,  turning  with 
the  merriest  of  them,  her  loosened  hair  gleaming 
in  the  sun,  her  small  feet  twinkling.  Now  it  was 
Helbeck's  turn  to  stand  and  watch.  What  a  curi- 
ous grace  and  ])uri)ose  there  was   in   all   her  move- 

VOL.    I.  M 


162  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

ments !  Even  in  her  play  Miss  Fountain  was  a  per 
sonality. 

At  last  a  little  girl  who  was  running  with  her  began 
to  drag  and  turn  pale.     Laura  stopped  to  look  at  her. 

''I  can't  run  any  more,"  said  the  child  piteously. 
"I  had  a  bone  took  out  of  my  leg  last  year." 

She  was  a  sickly-looking  creature,  rickety  and  con- 
sumptive, a  waif  from  a  Liverpool  slum.  Laura 
picked  her  up  and  carried  her  to  a  seat  in  a  yew 
arbour  away  from  the  games.  Then  the  child 
studied  her  with  shy-looking  eyes,  and  suddenly 
slipped  an  arm  like  a  bit  of  stick  round  the  pretty 
lady's  neck. 

"  Tell  me  a  story,  please,  teacher, "  she  said 
imploringly. 

Laura  was  taken  aback,  for  she  had  forgotten  the 
tales  of  her  own  childhood,  and  had  never  pos- 
sessed any  younger  brothers  or  sisters,  or  paid 
much  attention  to  children  in  general.  But  with 
some  difficulty  she  stumbled  through  Cinderella. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  know  that;  but  it's  lovely,"  said  the 
child,  at  the  end,  with  a  sigh  of  content.  "  Now 
I'll  tell  you  one." 

And  in  a  high  nasal  voice,  like  one  repeating  a 
lesson  in  class,  she  began  upon  something  which 
Laura  soon  discovered  to  be  the  life  of  a  saint. 
She  followed  the  phrases  of  it  with  a  growing   re- 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  163 

pugnance,  till  at  last  the  speaker  said,  with  the 
unction  of  one  sure  of  her  audience : 

"  And  once  the  good  Father  went  to  a  hospital  to 
visit  some  sick  peoj)le.  And  as  he  was  hearing  a 
poor  sailor's  confession,  he  found  out  that  it  was  his 
own  brother,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  a  long,  long 
time.  Now  the  sailor  was  very  ill,  and  going  to  die, 
and  he  had  been  a  bad  man,  and  done  a  great  many 
wicked  things.  But  the  good  Father  did  not  let  the 
poor  man  know  who  he  was.  He  went  home  and  told 
his  Superior  that  he  had  found  his  brother.  And 
the  Superior  forbade  liiin  to  go  and  see  his  brother 
again,  because,  he  said,  God  would  take  care  of  him. 
And  the  Father  was  very  sad,  and  the  devil  tempted 
him  sorely.  But  he  prayed  to  God,  and  God  helped 
him  to  be  obedient. 

"And  a  great  many  years  afterwards  a  poor  woman 
came  to  see  the  good  Father.  And  she  told  him  she 
had  seen  our  Blessed  Lady  in  a  vision.  And  our 
Blessed  Lady  had  sent  her  to  tell  the  Father  that 
because  he  had  been  so  obedient,  and  had  not  been 
to  see  his  brother  again,  our  Lady  had  prayed  our 
Lord  for  his  brother.  And  his  brother  had  made  a 
good  death,  and  was  saved,  all  because  the  good 
Father  had  obeyed  what  his  Superior  told  him." 

Laura  sprang  up.  The  child,  who  had  expected  a 
kiss  and  a  pious  phrase,  looked  up,  startled. 


164  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"  Wasn't  that  a  pretty  story  ?  "  she  said  timidly. 

''No;  I  don't  like  it  at  all,"  said  Miss  Fountain 
decidedly.     ''  I  wonder  they  tell  you  such  tales !  " 

The  child  stared  at  her  for  a  moment.  Then  a 
sudden  veil  fell  across  the  clearness  of  her  eyes, 
which  had  the  preternatural  size  and  brilliance  of 
disease.  Her  expression  changed.  It  became  the 
slyness  of  the  watching  animal,  that  feels  the  enemy. 
She  said  not  another  word. 

Laura  felt  a  pang  of  shame,  even  though  she  was 
still  vibrating  with  the  repulsion  the  child's  story 
had  excited  in  her. 

"  Look ! "  she  said,  raising  the  little  one  in  her 
ai;ms ;  "  the  others  are  all  going  into  the  house.  Shall 
we  go  too  ?  " 

But  the  child  struggled  resolutely, 

"Let  me  get  down.  I  can  walk."  Laura  set  her 
down,  and  the  child  walked  as  fast  as  her  lame  leg 
would  let  her  to  join  the  others.  Once  or  twice  she 
looked  round  furtively  at  her  companion ;  but  she 
would  not  take  tlie  hand  Laura  offered  her,  and 
she  seemed  to  have  wholly  lost  her  tongue. 

"  Little  bigot !  "  thought  Laura,  half  angry,  half 
amused ;  "  do  they  catch  it  from  their  cradle  ?  " 

Presently  they  found  themselves  in  the  tail  of  a 
crowd  of  children  iiiul  Sisters  who  were  ascending 
the  stairs  of  a  doorway  opening  on  the  garden.     The 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  165 

doorway  led,  as  Laura  knew,  to  the  corridor  of  the 
chapeh  She  let  herself  be  carried  along,  irresolute, 
and  presently  she  found  herself  within  the  curtained 
doorway,  mechanically  helping  the  Sisters  and  Au- 
gustina  to  put  the  children  in  their  places. 

One  or  two  of  the  older  children  noticed  that  the 
young  lady  with  Mrs.  Fountain  did  not  sign  herself 
with  holy  water,  and  did  not  genuflect  in  passing  the 
altar,  and  they  looked  at  her  with  a  stealthy  surprise. 
A  gentle-looking  young  Sister  came  up  to  her  as  she 
was  lifting  a  very  small  child  to  a  seat. 

"  Thank  you,"  murmured  the  Sister.  ''  It  is  very 
good  of  you."  But  the  voice,  though  so  soft,  was 
cold,  and  Laura  at  once  felt  herself  the  intruder,  and 
withdrew  to  the  back  of  the  crowd. 

Yet  again,  as  at  her  first  visit  to  the  chapel,  so 
now,  she  was  too  curious,  for  all  her  soreness,  to  go. 
She  must  see  what  they  would  be  at. 

"Rosary"  passed,  and  she  hardly  understood  a 
word.  The  voice  of  the  Jesuit  intoning  suggested 
nothing  intelligible  to  her,  and  it  was  some  time 
before  she  could  even  make  out  what  the  children 
were  saying  in  their  loud-voiced  responses.  "  Holy 
Mary,  Mother  of  (iod,  pray  for  us  sinners,  now  and 
at  the  hour  of  our  death  "  —  was  that  it  ?  And  occa- 
sionally an  "  Our  Father "  thrown  in  —  all  of  it  gab 


166  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

bled  as  fast  as  possible,  as  though  the  one  object  of 
both  priest  and  people  were  to  get  through  and  make 
an  end.  Over  and  over  again,  without  an  inflection, 
or  a  change  —  with  just  the  one  monotonous  repeti- 
tion and  the  equally  monotonous  variation.  What  a 
barbarous  and  foolish  business  ! 

Very  soon  she  gave  up  listening.  Her  eyes  wan- 
dered to  the  frescoes,  to  the  bare  altar  with  its  purple 
covering,  to  the  tall  candles  sparkling  before  the  tab- 
ernacle ;  and  the  coloured  and  scented  gloom,  pierced 
with  the  distant  lights,  gave  her  a  vague  pleasure. 

Presently  there  was  a  pause.  The  children  settled 
themselves  in  their  seats  with  a  little  clatter.  Father 
Leadliam  retired,  while  the  Sisters  knelt,  each  bov.'ed 
profoundly  on  herself,  eyes  closed  under  her  coif, 
hands  clasped  in  front  of  her. 

What  were  they  waiting  for  ? .  Ah !  there  was  the 
priest  again,  but  in  a  changed  dress  —  a  white  cope  of 
some  splendour.  The  organ,  played  by  one  of  the 
Sisters,  broke  out  upon  the  silence,  and  the  voices  of 
the  rest  rose  suddenly,  small  and  sweet,  in  a  Latin 
hymn.  The  priest  went  to  the  tabernacle,  and  set 
it  open.  There  was  a  swinging  of  incense,  and  the 
waves  of  fragrant  smoke  flowed  out  upon  the  chapel, 
dimming  the  altar  and  the  figure  before  it.  Laura 
caught  sight  for  a  moment  of  the  young  Sister  who 
had  spoken  to  her.     She  was  kneeling  and  singing. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  167 

with  sweet,  shut  eyes ;  it  was  clear  that  she  was 
possessed  by  a  fervour  of  feeling.  Miss  Fountain 
thought  to  herself,  with  wonder,  "She  cannot  be 
much  older  than  I  am ! " 

After  the  hymn  it  was  the  children's  turn.  What 
were  they  singing  so  lustily  to  so  dancing  a  tune? 
Laura  bent  over  to  look  at  the  book  of  a  Sister  in 
front  of  her. 

"  Virgo  prudentissima,  Virgo  veneranda,  Virgo  prse- 
dicanda " 

With  difficulty  she  found  the  place  in  another  book 
that  lay  upon  a  chair  beside  her.  Then  for  a  few 
minutes  she  lost  herself  in  a  first  amazement  over 
that  string  of  epithets  and  adjectives  with  which  the 
Catholic  Church  throughout  the  world  celebrates  day 
by  day  and  Sunday  after  Sunday  the  glories  of  Mary. 
The  gay  music,  the  harsh  and  eager  voices  of  the 
children,  flowed  on,  the  waves  of  incense  spread 
throughout  the  chapel.  ^Vhen  she  raised  her  eyes 
they  fell  upon  Helbeck's  dark  head  in  the  far  dis- 
tance, above  his  server's  cotta.  A  quick  change 
crossed  her  face,  transforming  it  to  a  passionate 
contempt. 


But  of  her  no  one  thought  —  save  once.  The  beau- 
tiful "  moment "  of  the  ceremony  had  come.  Father 
Leadham  had  raised  the  monstrance,  containing  the 


1G8  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Host,  to  give  the  Benediction.  Every  Sister,  every 
child,  except  a  few  small  and  tired  ones,  was  bowed 
in  humblest  adoration. 

Mr.  Helbeck,  too,  was  kneeling  in  the  little  choir. 
But  his  attention  wandered.  With  the  exception  of 
his  walk  with  Father  Leadham,  he  had  been  in  church 
since  early  morning,  and  even  for  him  response  was 
temporarily  exhausted.  His  look  strayed  over  the 
chapel. 

It  was  suddenly  arrested.  Above  the  kneeling  con- 
gregation a  distant  face  showed  plainly  in  the  April 
dusk  amid  the  dimness  of  incense  and  painting  —  a 
girl's  face,  delicately  white  and  set  —  a  face  of  revolt. 

"  Why  is  she  here  ? "  was  his  first  thought.  It 
came  with  a  rush  of  annoyance,  even  resentment. 
But  immicdiately  other  thoughts  met  it:  ''She  is 
lonely ;  she  is  here  under  my  roof ;  she  has  lost 
her  father ;  poor  child ! " 

The  last  mental  phrase  was  not  so  much  his  own 
as  an  echo  from  Father  Leadham.  In  Helbeck's 
mind  it  was  spoken  very  much  as  the  priest  had 
spoken  it  —  with  that  strange  tenderness,  at  once 
so  intimate  and  so  impersonal,  which  belongs  to  the 
spiritual  relations  of  Catholicism.  The  girl's  soul 
—  lonely,  hostile,  uncared  for  —  appealed  to  the  char- 
ity of  the  believer.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
something  in  her  defiance,  her  crude  disapproval  of 


RELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  169 

his  house  and  his  faith,  that  stimulated  and  chal- 
lenged the  man.  Conscious  for  the  first  time  of  a 
new  conflict  of  feeling  within  himself,  he  looked 
steadily  towards  her  across  the  darkness. 

It  was  as  though  he  had  sought  and  found  a  way 
to  lift  himself  above  her  young  pride,  her  ignorant 
enmity.  For  a  moment  there  was  a  curious  exalta- 
tion and  tyranny  in  his  thought.  He  dropped  his 
head  and  prayed  for  her,  the  words  falling  slow  and 
deliberate  within  his  consciousness.  And  she  could 
not  resent  it  or  stop  it.  It  was  an  aggression  be- 
fore which  she  was  helpless ;  it  struck  down  the 
protest  of  her  pale  look. 

At  supper,  when  the  Sisters  and  their  charges  had 
departed,  Father  Bowles  appeared,  and  never  before 
had  Helbeck  been  so  lamentably  aware  of  the  ab- 
surdities and  inferiorities  of  his  parish  priest. 

The  Jesuit,  too,  was  sharply  conscious  of  them, 
and  even  Augustina  felt  that  something  was  amiss. 
Was  it  that  they  were  all  —  except  Father  Bowles 
—  affected  by  the  presence  of  the  young  lady  on 
Helbeck's  right  —  by  the  cool  detachment  of  her 
manner,  the  self-possession  that  appealed  to  no  one 
and  claimed  none  of  the  prerogatives  of  sex  and 
charm,  while  every  now  and  then  it  made  itself  felt 
in  tacit  and  resolute  opposition  to  her  environment  ? 


170  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

"  He  might  leave  those  things  alone !  "  thought 
the  Jesuit  angrily,  as  he  heard  Father  Bowles  giv- 
ing Mrs.  Fountain  a  gently  complacent  account  of  a 
geological  lecture  lately  delivered  in  Whinthorpe. 

"  What  I  always  say,  you  know,  my  dear  lady,  is 
this :  you  must  show  me  the  evidence  !  After  all,  you 
geologists  have  done  much  —  you  have  dug  here  and 
there,  it  is  true.  But  dig  all  over  the  world  —  dig 
everywhere — lay  it  all  bare.  Then  you  may  ask 
me  to  listen  to  you ! " 

The  little  round-faced  priest  looked  round  the 
table  for  support.  Laura  bit  her  lip  and  bent  over 
her  plate.  Father  Leadham  turned  hastily  to  Hel- 
beck,  and  began  to  discuss  with  him  a  recent  mono- 
graph on  the  Eoman  Wall,  showing  a  plentiful  and 
scholarly  knowledge  of  the  subject.  And  presently 
he  drew  in  the  girl  opposite,  addressing  her  with  a 
man-of-the-world  ease  and  urbanity  which  disarmed 
her.  It  appeared  that  he  had  just  come  back  from 
mission-work  in  British  Guiana,  that  he  had  been 
in  India,  and  was  in  all  respects  a  travelled  and 
accomplished  person.  But  the  girl  did  not  yield 
herself,  though  she  listened  quite  civilly  and  atten- 
tively while  he  talked. 

But  again  through  the  Jesuit's  easy  or  polished 
phrases  there  broke  the  purring  inanity  of  Father 
Bowles. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  171 

"  Lourdes,  my  dear  lady  ?  Lourdes  ?  How  can 
there  be  the  smallest  doubt  of  the  miracles  of 
Lourdes  ?  Why  !  they  keep  two  doctors  on  the  spot 
to  verify  everything ! " 

The  Jesuit's  sense  of  humour  was  uncomfortably 
touched.  He  glanced  at  Miss  Fountain,  but  could 
only  see  that  she  Avas  gazing  steadily  out  of  the 
window. 

As  for  himself,  convert  and  ex-Fellow  of  a  well- 
known  college,  he  gave  a  strong  inward  assent  to 
the  judgment  of  some  of  his  own  leaders,  that  the 
older  Catholic  priests  of  this  country  are  as  a  rule 
lamentably  unfit  for  their  work.  "Our  chance  in 
England  is  broadening  every  year,"  he  said  to  him- 
self. "  How  are  we  to  seize  it  with  such  tools  ?  But 
all  round  we  want  men.  Oh !  for  a  few  more  of  those 
who  were  '  out  in  forty -five ' ! " 

In  the  drawing-room  after  dinner  Laura,  as  usual, 
entrenched  herself  in  one  of  the  deep  oriel  windows, 
behind  a  heavy  table.  Augustina  showed  an  anxious 
curiosity  as  to  the  expedition  of  the  morning  —  as 
to  the  Masons  and  their  farm.  But  Laura  would 
say  very  little  about  them. 

Wlien  the  gentlemen  came  in,  Helbeck  sent  a 
searching  look  round  the  drawing-room.  He  had 
the  air  of  one  who  enters  with  a  purpose, 


172  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

The  beautiful  old  room  lay  in  a  lialf-liglit.  A 
lamp  at  either  end  could  do  but  little  against  the 
shadows  that  seemed  to  radiate  from  the  panelled 
walls  and  from  the  deep  red  hangings  of  the 
windows.  But  the  wood  fire  on  the  hearth  sent 
out  a  soft  glow,  which  fastened  on  the  few  points 
of  brilliance  in  the  darkness  —  on  the  ivory  of  the 
fretted  ceiling,  on  the  dazzling  dress  of  the  Eomney, 
on  the  gold  of  Miss  Fountain's  hair. 

Laura  looked  up  with  some  surprise  as  Helbeck 
approached  her ;  then,  seeing  that  he  apparently 
wished  to  talk,  she  made  a  place  for  him  among 
the  old  "Books  of  Beauty"  with  which  she  had 
been  bestrewing  the  seat  that  ran  round  the 
window. 

"  I  trust  the  pony  behaved  himself  this  morning  ?  " 
he  said,  as  he  sat  down. 

Laura  answered  politely. 

"  And  you  found  your  way  without  difficulty  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes !     Your  directions  were  exact." 

Inwardly  she  said  to  herself,  "Does  he  want  to 
cross-examine  me  about  the  Masons  ? "  Then,  sud- 
denly, she  noticed  the  scar  under  his  hair  —  a 
jagged  mark,  testifying  to  a  wound  of  some  severity 
—  and  it  made  her  uncomfortable.  Nay,  it  seemed 
in  some  curious  way  to  put  her  in  the  wrong,  to 
shake  her  self-reliance. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  173 

But  Helbeck  had  not  come  with  the  intention  of 
talking  about  the  Masons.  His  avoidance  of  their 
name  was  indeed  a  pointed  one.  He  drew  out  her 
admiration  of  the  daffodils  and  of  the  view  from 
Browhead  Lane. 

"  After  Easter  we  must  show  you  something  of 
the  high  mountains.  Augustina  tells  me  you  admire 
the  country.  The  head  of  Windermere  will  delight 
you." 

His  manner  of  offering  her  these  civilities  was 
somewhat  stiff  and  conventional  —  the  manner  of 
one  who  had  been  brought  up  among  country 
gentry  of  the  old  school,  apart  from  London  and 
the  bemi  monde.  But  it  struck  Laura  that,  for  the 
first  time,  he  was  speaking  to  her  as  a  man  of  his 
breeding  might  be  expected  to  speak  to  a  lady 
visiting  his  house.  There  was  consideration,  and 
an  apparent  desire  to  please.  It  was  as  though  she 
had  grown  all  at  once  into  something  more  in 
his  eyes  than  IVIrs.  Fountain's  little  stepdaughter, 
who  was,  no  doul)t,  useful  as  a  nurse  and  a  com- 
panion, but  radically  unwelcome  and  insignificant 
none  the  less. 

Inevitably  the  girl's  vanity  was  soothed.  She 
began  to  answer  more  naturally ;  her  smile  became 
more  frequent.  And  gradually  an  unwonted  ease 
and  enjoyment  stole  over  Helbeck  also.     He  talked 


174  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

with  so  inucli  animation  at  last  as  to  draw  the 
attention  of  another  person  in  the  room.  Father 
Leadham,  who  had  been  leaning  with  some  languor 
against  the  high,  carved  mantel,  while  Father 
Bowles  and  Augustina  babbled  beneath  him,  began 
to  take  increasing  notice  of  Miss  Fountain,  and  of 
her  relation  to  the  Bannisdale  household.  For  a 
girl  who  had  "no  training,  moral  or  intellectual," 
she  was  showing  herself,  he  thought,  possessed  of 
more  attraction  than  might  have  been  expected, 
for  the  strict  master  of  the  house. 

Presently  Helbeck  came  to  a  pause  in  what  he 
was  saying.  He  had  been  describing  the  country  of 
Wordsworth,  and  had  been  dwelling  on  Grasmere 
and  Eydal  Mount,  in  the  tone,  indeed,  of  one  who 
had  no  vital  concern  whatever  with  the  Lake  poets 
or  their  poetry,  but  still  with  an  evident  desire  to 
interest  his  companion.  And  following  closely  on 
this  first  eifort  to  make  friends  with  her  something 
further  suggested  itself. 

He  hesitated,  looked  at  Laura,  and  at  last  said,  in  a 
lower  voice  than  he  had  been  using,  "  I  believe  your 
father.  Miss  Fountain,  was  a  great  lover  of  Words- 
worth. Augustina  has  told  me  so.  You  and  he  were 
accustomed,  were  you  not,  to  read  much  together? 
Your  loss  must  be  very  great.  You  will  not  wonder, 
perhaps,  that  for  me  there  are  painful  thoughts  con- 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  175 

nected  with  your  father.  But  I  have  not  been  in- 
sensible —  I  have  not  been  without  feeling  —  for  my 
sister  —  and  for  you." 

He  spoke  with  embarrassment,  and  a  kind  of  appeal. 
Laura  had  been  startled  by  his  first  words,  and  while 
he  spoke  she  sat  very  pale  and  upright,  staring  at 
him.     The  hand  on  her  lap  shook. 

When  he  ceased  she  did  not  answer.  She  turned 
her  head,  and  he  saw  her  pretty  throat  tremble. 
Then  she  hastily  raised  her  handkerchief ;  a  struggle 
passed  over  the  face ;  she  wiped  away  her  tears,  and 
threw  back  her  head,  with  a  sobbing  breath  and  a 
little  shake  of  the  bright  hair,  like  one  who  reproves 
herself.  But  she  said  nothing;  and  it  was  evident 
that  she  could  say  nothing  without  breaking  down. 

Deeply  touched,  Helbeck  unconsciously  drew  a  little 
nearer  to  her.  Changing  the  subject  at  once,  he  began 
to  talk  to  her  of  the  children  and  the  little  festival 
of  the  afternoon.  An  hour  before  he  would  have 
instinctively  avoided  doing  anything  of  the  kind. 
Now,  at  last,  he  ventured  to  be  himself,  or  some- 
thing near  it.  Laura  regained  her  composure,  and 
bent  her  attention  iipon  him,  with  a  slightly  frown- 
ing brow.  Her  mind  was  divided  between  the  most 
contradictory  impulses  and  attractions.  How  had  it 
come  about,  she  asked  herself,  after  a  Avhile,  that  she 
was  listening  like  this  to  his  schemes  for  his  cluldreu 


176  HELBECE  OF  BANNISBALE 

and  his  new  orphanage  ?  —  she,  and  not  his  natural 
audience,  the  two  priests  and  Augustina. 

She  actually  heard  him  describe  the  efforts  made  by 
himself  and  one  or  two  other  Catholics  in  the  county 
to  provide  shelter  and  education  for  the  county's 
Catholic  orphans.  He  dwelt  on  tlie  death  and  dis- 
appearance of  some  of  his  earlier  colleagues,  on  the 
iirgent  need  for  a  new  building  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  county  town,  and  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
''  home "  he  himself  had  put  up  some  ten  years 
before,  on  the  Whinthorpe  Eoad. 

"  But,  unfortunately,  large  plans  want  large  means," 
he  added,  with  a  smile,  "  and  I  fear  it  will  come  to  it 
—  has  Augustina  said  anything  to  you  about  it  ?  — 
I  fear  there  is  nothing  for  it,  but  that  our  beauteous 
lady  there  must  provide  them." 

He  nodded  towards  the  picture  that  gleamed  from 
the  opposite  wall.  Then  he  added  gravely,  and  with 
a  perfect  simplicity : 

''  It  is  my  last  possession  of  any  value." 

Several  times  during  the  fortnight  that  she  had 
known  him,  Laura  had  heard  him  speak  with  a 
similar  simplicity  about  his  personal  and  pecuniary 
affairs.  That  anyone  so  stately  should  treat  himself 
and  his  own  worldly  concerns  with  so  much  na'ivetd 
had  been  a  source  of  frequent  surprise  to  her.  To 
what,  then,  did  his  dignity,  his  reserve  apply  ? 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  177 

Nevertheless,  because,  childishly,  she  had  already 
taken  a  side,  as  it  were,  about  the  picture,  his  manner, 
with  its  apparent  indifference,  annoyed  her.  She  drew 
back. 

"■  Yes,  Augustina  told  me.  But  isn't  it  cruel  ?  isn't 
it  unkind  ?  A  picture  like  that  is  alive.  It  has  been 
here  so  long  —  one  could  hardly  feel  it  belonged  only 
to  oneself.  It  is  part  of  the  house,  isn't  it  ?  —  part  of 
the  family  ?  Won't  other  people  —  people  who  come 
after  —  reproach  you  ?  " 

Helbeck  lifted  his  shoulders,  his  dark  face  half 
amused,  half  sad. 

"  She  died  a  hundred  years  ago,  pretty  creature ! 
She  has  had  her  turn;  so  have  we  —  in  the  pleasure 
of  looking  at  her." 

"  But  she  belongs  to  you,"  said  the  girl  insistently. 
"  She  is  your  own  kith  and  kin." 

He  hesitated,  then  said,  with  a  new  emphasis  that 
answered  her  own : 

"  Perhaps  there  are  two  sorts  of  kindred " 

The  girl's  cheek  flushed. 

"  And  the  one  you  mean  may  always  push  out 
the  other?  I  know,  because  one  of  your  children 
told  me  a  story  to-day  —  such  a  frightful  story  !  — 
of  a  saint  who  would  not  go  to  see  his  dying 
brother,  for  obedience'  sake.  She  asked  me  if  I 
liked  it.      IIow  could  I  say  I  liked  it!     I  told  hci 

VOL.   1.  N 


178  UELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

it  was  horrible!  I  wondered  how  people  could  tell 
her  such  tales." 

Her  bearing  was  again  all  hostility  —  a  young  defi- 
ance. She  was  delighted  to  confess  herself.  Her 
crime,  untold,  had  been  pressing  upon  her  conscience, 
hurting  her  natural  frankness. 

Helbeck's  face  changed.  He  looked  at  her  atten- 
tively, the  fine  dark  eye,  under  the  commanding  brow, 
straight  and  sparkling. 

"  You  said  that  to  the  child  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

Her  breast  fluttered.  She  trembled,  he  saw,  with 
an  excitement  she  could  hardly  repress. 

He,  too,  felt  a  novel  excitement  —  the  excitement  of 
a  strong  will  provoked.  It  was  clear  to  him  that  she 
meant  to  provoke  him  —  that  her  young  personality 
threw  itself  wantonly  across  his  own.  He  spoke  with 
a  harsh  directness. 

"  You  did  wrong,  I  think  —  quite  wrong.  Excuse  the 
word,  but  you  have  brought  me  to  close  quarters.  You 
sowed  the  seeds  of  doubt,  of  revolt,  in  a  child's  mind." 

'•  Perhaps,"  said  Laura  quickly.     "  What  then  ?  " 

She  wore  her  half-wild,  half-mocking  look.  Every- 
thing soft  and  touching  had  disappeared.  The  eyes 
shone  under  the  golden  mass  of  hair ;  the  small  mouth 
was  close  and  scornful.  Helbeck  looked  at  her  in 
amazement,  liis  own  pulse  hurrying. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  179 

"  AVhat  then  ?  "  he  echoed,  with  a  sternness  that 
astonished  himself.  ''  Ask  your  own  feeling.  What 
has  a  child  —  a  little  child  under  orders  —  to  do  with 
doubt,  or  revolt?  For  her  —  for  all  of  us  —  doubt  is 
misery." 

Laura  rose.  She  forced  down  her  agitation  —  made 
herself  speak  plainly. 

"  Papa  taught  me  —  it  was  life  —  and  I  believe  him." 

The  old  clock  in  the  farther  corner  of  the  room 
struck  a  quarter  to  ten  —  the  hour  of  prayers.  The 
two  priests  on  the  farther  side  of  the  room  stood  up, 
and  Augustina  sheathed  her  knitting-needles. 

Laura  turned  towards  Helbeck  and  coldly  held  out 
her  little  hand.  He  touched  it,  and  she  crossed  the 
room.     "  Good-night,  Augustina." 

She  kissed  her  stepmother,  and  bowed  to  the  two 
priests.  Father  Leadham  ceremoniously  opened  the 
door  for  her.  Then  he  and  Helbeck,  Father  Bowles 
and  Augustina  followed  across  the  dark  hall  on  their 
way  to  the  chapel.  Laura  took  her  candle,  and  her 
light  figure  could  be  seen  ascending  the  Jacobean 
staircase,  a  slim  and  charming  vision  against  the 
shadows  of  the  old  house. 

Father  Leadham  followed  it  with  eyes  and 
thoughts.  Then  he  glanced  towards  Helbeck.  An 
idea  —  and  one  that  was  singularly  unwelcome  —  was 
forcing  its  way  into  the  priest's  mind. 


BOOK   II 


BOOK  II 

CHAPTER  I 

From  that  niglit  onwards  tlie  relations  between 
Helbeck  and  his  sister's  stepdaughter  took  another 
tone.  He  no  longer  went  his  own  way,  with  no  more 
than  a  vague  consciousness  that  a  curious  and  difficult 
girl  was  in  the  house;  he  watched  her  with  increas- 
ing interest;  he  began  to  taste,  as  it  were,  the  thorny- 
charm  that  was  her  peculiar  possession. 

Not  that  he  was  allowed  to  see  much  of  the  charm. 
After  the  conversation  of  Passion  Sunday  her  manner 
to  him  was  no  less  cold  and  distant  than  before. 
Their  final  collision,  on  the  subject  of  the  child,  had, 
he  supposed,  undone  the  effects  of  his  conciliatory 
words  about  her  father.  It  must  be  so,  no  doubt, 
since  her  hostile  observation  of  him  and  of  his  friends 
seemed  to  be  in  no  whit  softened. 

That  he  should  be  so  often  conscious  of  her  at 
this  particular  time  annoyed  and  troubled  him.  It 
was  the  most  sacred  moment  of  the  Catholic  year. 
Father  Leadhani,  his  old  Stonyhurst  friend,  had  come 

183 


184  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

to  spend  Passion  Week  and  Holy  Week  at  Bannis- 
dale,  as  a  special  favour  to  one  whom  the  Church 
justly  numbered  among  the  most  faithful  of  her  sons; 
while  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  many  links  of  mutual 
service  and  affection,  both  with  the  Helbeck  family 
in  the  past  and  with  the  present  owner  of  the  Hall. 
Helbeck,  indeed,  was  of  real  importance  to  Catholi- 
cism in  this  particular  district  of  England.  It  had 
once  abounded  in  Catholic  families,  but  now  hardly 
one  of  them  remained,  and  upon  Helbeck,  with  his 
small  resources  and  dwindling  estate,  devolved  a 
number  of  labours  which  should  have  been  portioned 
out  among  a  large  circle.  Only  enthusiasm  such  as 
his  could  have  sufficed  for  the  task.  But,  for  the 
Church's  sake,  he  had  now  remained  unmarried  some 
fifteen  years.  He  lived  like  an  ascetic  in  the  great 
house,  with  a  couple  of  women  servants ;  he  spent  all 
his  income  —  except  a  fraction  —  on  the  good  works 
of  a  wide  district ;  Avhen  larger  sums  Avere  necessary 
he  was  ready,  nay,  eager,  to  sell  the  land  necessary  to 
provide  them ;  and  whenever  he  journeyed  to  other 
parts  of  England,  or  to  the  Continent,  it  was  generally 
assumed  that  he  had  gone,  not  as  other  men  go,  for 
pleasure  and  recreation,  but  simply  that  he  might 
pursue  some  Catholic  end,  either  of  money  or  admin- 
istration, among  the  rich  and  powerful  of  the  faith 
elsewhere.     Meanwhile,  it  was  believed  that  he  had 


UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  185 

bequeathed  the  house  aud  park  of  Banuisvlale  to  a 
distant  cousin,  also  a  strict  Catholic,  with  the  warn- 
ing that  not  much  else  would  remain  to  his  heir  from 
the  ancient  and  splendid  inheritance  of  the  family. 

It  was  not  wonderful,  then,  that  the  Jesiuts  should 
be  glad  to  do  such  a  man  a  service ;  and  no  service 
could  have  been  greater  in  Helbeck's  eyes  than  a  visit 
from  a  priest  of  their  order  during  these  weeks  of 
emotion  and  of  penance.  Every  day  Mass  was  said 
in  the  little  chapel ;  every  evening  a  small  flock  gath- 
ered to  Litany  or  Benediction.  Ordinary  life  went 
on  as  it  could  in  the  intervals  of  prayer  and  medita- 
tion. The  house  swarmed  with  priests  —  with  old 
and  infirm  priests,  many  of  them  from  a  Jesuit  house 
of  retreat  on  the  western  coast,  not  far  away,  who 
found  in  a  visit  to  Bannisdale  one  of  the  chief  pleas- 
ures of  their  suffering  or  monotonous  lives  ;  while  the 
Superiors  of  Helbeck's  own  orphanages  were  always 
ready  to  help  the  Bannisdale  chapel,  on  days  of 
special  sanctity,  by  sending  a  party  of  Sisters  and 
children  to  provide  the  singing. 

Meanwhile  all  else  was  forgotten.  As  to  food, 
Helbeck  and  Father  Leadham  —  according  to  the 
letters  describing  her  experiences  which  Laura  wrote 
during  these  weeks  to  a  Cambridge  girl  friend  — 
lived  upon  "a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  banana"  per  day, 
and   she   had    endless    diiliculty    in   restraining    her 


186  BELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

charge,  Augnstina,  from  doing  likewise.  For  Au- 
gustiua,  indeed — Stephen  Fountain's  little  black-robed 
widow  —  her  husband  was  daily  receding  further  and 
further  into  a  dim  and  dreadful  distance,  where  she 
feared  and  yet  wept  to  think  of  him.  She  passed  her 
time  in  the  intoxication  of  her  recovered  faith,  excited 
by  the  people  around  her,  by  the  services  in  the 
chapel,  and  by  her  very  terrors  over  her  own  unholy 
union,  lapse,  and  restoration.  The  sound  of  intoning, 
the  scent  of  incense,  seemed  to  pervade  the  house; 
and  at  the  centre  of  all  brooded  that  mysterious 
Presence  upon  the  altar,  which  drew  the  passion  of 
Catholic  hearts  to  itself  in  ever  deeper  measure  as 
the  great  days  of  Holy  Week  and  Easter  approached. 
Through  all  this  drama  of  an  inventive  and  exact- 
ing faith,  Laura  Fountain  passed  like  a  being  from 
another  world,  an  alien  and  a  mocking  spirit.  She 
said  nothing,  but  her  eyes  were  satires.  The  effect 
of  her  presence  in  the  house  was  felt  probably  by  all 
■its  inmates,  and  by  many  of  its  visitors.  She  did  not 
again  express  herself  —  except  rarely  to  Augustina  — 
with  the  vehemence  she  had  shown  to  the  little  lame 
orphan ;  she  was  quite  ready  to  chat  and  laugh  upon 
occasion  with  Father  Leadham,  who  had  a  pleasant 
wit,  and  now  and  then  deliberately  sought  her 
society  ;  and,  owing  to  the  feebleness  of  Augustina, 
she,  quite  unconsciously,  established   certain  house- 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  187 

hold  ways  which  spoke  the  woman,  and  were  new  to 
Baunisdale.  She  filled  the  drawing-room  with  daffo- 
dils ;  she  made  the  tea-table  by  the  hall  fire  a  cheer- 
ful place  for  any  who  might  visit  it ;  she  flitted  about 
the  house  in  the  prettiest  and  neatest  of  spring 
dresses ;  her  hair,  her  face,  her  white  hands  and  neck 
shone  amid  the  shadows  of  the  panelling  like  jewels 
in  a  casket.  Everyone  was  conscious  of  her  —  uneasily 
conscious.  She  yielded  herself  to  no  one,  was  touched 
by  no  one.  She  stood  apart,  and  through  her  cold, 
light  ways  spoke  the  world  and  the  spirit  that  deny  — 
the  world  at  which  the  Catholic  shudders. 

At  the  same  time,  like  everybody  else  in  the  house 
—  even  the  sulky  housekeeper  —  she  grew  pale  and 
thin  from  Lenten  fare.  Mr.  Helbeck  had  of  course 
given  orders  to  Mrs.  Denton  that  his  sister  and  Miss 
Fountain  were  to  be  well  provided.  But  Mrs.  Denton 
was  grudging  or  forgetful ;  and  it  amused  Laura  to 
see  that  Augustina  was  made  to  eat,  while  she  her- 
self fared  with  the  rest.  The  viands  of  whatever 
sort  were  generally  scanty  and  ill-cooked ;  and  neither 
the  Sqiiire  nor  Father  Leadham  cared  anything  about 
the  pleasures  of  the  table,  in  Lent  or  out  of  it.  Mr. 
Helbeck  hardly  noticed  what  was  set  before  him. 
Once  or  twice  indeed  he  woke  up  to  the  fact  that 
there  was  not  enough  for  the  ladies  and  would  say  an 
angry  word  to  Mrs.  Denton,     But  on  the  whole  Laura 


188  11 E  LB  EC  K    OF  BAXMSDALE 

was  able  to  follow  lier  whim  and  to  try  for  herself 
what  this  Catholic  austerity  might  be  like. 

"  My  dear,"  she  wrote  to  her  friend,  "  one  thing  you 
learn  from  a  Catholic  Lent  is  that  food  matters  '  nowt 
at  aw,'  as  they  would  say  in  these  parts.  You  can 
do  just  as  well  Avithout  it  as  with  it.  Why  you 
should  think  yourself  a  saint  for  not  eating  it  puzzles 
me.  Otherwise  —  vive  lafaim!  And  as  we  are  none 
of  us  likely  to  starve  ourselves  half  so  much  as  the 
poor  people  of  the  world,  the  soldiers,  and  sailors, 
and  explorers,  are  always  doing,  to  please  them- 
selves or  their  country,  I  don't  suppose  that  any- 
body will  come  to  harm. 

"You  are  to  understand,  nevertheless,  that  our 
austerities  are  rather  unusual.  And  when  anyone 
comes  in  from  the  outside  they  are  concealed  as 
much  as  possible.  .  .  .  The  old  Helbecks,  as  far  as 
I  can  hear,  must  have  been  very  different  people 
from  their  modern  descendant.  They  were  quite 
good  Catholics,  understand.  What  the  Church  pre- 
scribed they  did  —  but  not  a  fraction  beyond.  They 
were  like  the  jolly  lazy  sort  of  schoolboy,  who 
just  does  his  lesson,  but  would  think  himself  a  fool 
if  he  did  a  word  more.  AVhereas  the  man  Avho 
lives  here  now  can  never  do  enough  I 

"And  in  general  these  old  Catholic  houses  — 
from   Augustina's   tales  —  must   have    been    full    of 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  189 

fun  and  feasting.  Well,  I  can  vouch  for  it,  there 
is  no  fun  in  Bannisdale  now !  It  is  JNIr.  Helbeck's 
personality,  I  suppose.  It  makes  its  own  atmos- 
phere. He  can  laugh  —  I  have  seen  it  myself !  — 
but  it  is  an  event." 

As  Lent  went  on,  the  mingling  of  curiosity  and 
cool  criticism  with  which  Miss  Fountain  regarded 
her  surroundings  became  perhaps  more  apparent. 
Father  Leadham,  in  particular,  detected  the  young 
lady's  fasting  experiments.  He  spoke  of  them  to 
Helbeck  as  showing  a  lack  of  delicacy  and  good 
taste.  But  the  Squire,  it  seemed,  was  rather  inclined 
to  regard  them  as  the  whims  of  a  spoilt  and  wilful 
child. 

This  difference  of  shade  in  the  judgment  of  the 
two  men  may  rank  as  one  of  the  first  signs  of  all 
that  was  to  come.  « 

Certainly  Helbeck  had  never  before  felt  himself 
so  uncomfortable  in  his  own  house  as  he  had  done 
since  the  arrival  of  this  girl  of  twenty-one.  Never- 
theless, as  the  weeks  went  on,  the  half-amused, 
half-contemptuous  embarrassment,  which  had  been 
the  first  natural  effect  of  her  presence  upon  the 
mind  of  a  man  so  little  used  to  women  and  their 
ways,  had  passed  imperceptibly  into  something  else. 
His    reserved    and    formal    manner    remained    the 


190  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

same.  But  Miss  Fountain's  goings,  and  comings  had 
ceased  to  be  indifferent  to  him.  A  silent  relation  — 
still  unknown  to  her — had  arisen  between  them. 

When  he  first  noticed  the  fact  in  himself,  it 
produced  a  strong,  temporary  reaction.  He  re- 
proached himself  for  a  light  and  unworthy  temper. 
Had  his  solitary  life  so  weakened  him  that  any 
new  face  and  personality  about  him  could  distract 
and  disturb  him,  even  amid  the  great  thoughts  of 
these  solemn  days  ?  His  heart,  his  life  were  in 
his  faith.  For  more  than  twenty  years,  by  prayer 
and  meditation,  by  all  the  ingenious  means  that 
the  Catholic  Church  provides,  he  had  developed  the 
sensibilities  of  faith;  and  for  the  Catholic  these 
sensibilities  are  centred  upon  and  sustained  by  the 
Passion.  Now,  hour  by  hour,  his  Lord  was  moving 
to  the  Cross.  He  stood  perpetually  beside  the 
sacred  form  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  in  Geth- 
semane,  on  the  steps  of  the  Prsetorium.  A  varied 
and  dramatic  ceremonial  was  always  at  hand  to 
stimulate  the  imagination,  the  penitence,  and  the 
devotion  of  the  believer.  That  anything  whatever 
should  break  in  upon  the  sacred  absorption  of  these 
days  would  have  seemed  to  him  beforehand  a 
calamity  to  be  shrunk  from  —  nay,  a  sin  to  be 
repented.  He  had  put  aside  all  business  that  could 
be  put  aside  with  one  object,  and  one  only — to 
make  "a  good  Easter." 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  191 

And  yet,  no  sooner  did  he  come  back  from  service 
in  the  chapel,  or  from  talk  of  Church  matters  with 
Catholic  friends,  than  he  found  himself  suddenly- 
full  of  expectation.  Was  Miss  Fountain  in  the 
hall,  in  the  garden  ?  or  was  she  gone  to  those 
people  at  Browhead  ?  If  she  was  not  in  the  house 
—  above  all,  if  she  was  with  the  Masons  —  he 
would  find  it  hard  to  absorb  himself  again  in  the 
thoughts  that  had  held  him  before.  If  she  was 
there,  if  he  found  her  sitting  reading  or  working 
by  the  hall  fire,  with  the  dogs  at  her  feet,  he 
seldom  indeed  went  to  speak  to  her.  He  would 
go  into  his  library,  and  force  himself  to  do  his 
business,  while  Father  Leadham  talked  to  her  and 
Augustina.  But  the  library  opened  on  the  hall, 
and  he  could  still  hear  that  voice  in  the  distance. 
Often,  when  she  caressed  the  dogs,  her  tones  had 
the  note  in  them  which  had  startled  him  on  her 
very  first  evening  under  his  roof.  It  was  the 
emergence  of  something  hidden  and  passionate; 
and  it  awoke  in  himself  a  strange  and  troubling 
echo  —  the  passing  surge  of  an  old  memory  long 
since  thrust  down  and  buried.  How  fast  his  youth 
was  going  from  him !  It  was  fifteen  years  since 
a  woman's  voice,  a  woman's  presence,  had  mattered 
anything  at  all  to  him. 

So  it  came  about  that,  in  some  way  or   other,  he 


192  JIELBECK   OF  BANNISBALE 

knew,  broadly,  all  that  Miss  Fountain  did,  little  as  he 
saw  of  her.  It  appeared  that  she  had  discovered  a 
pony  carriage  for  hire  in  the  little  village  near  the 
bridge,  and  once  or  twice  during  this  fortnight,  he 
learned  from  Augustina  that  she  had  spent  the  after- 
noon at  Browhead  Farm,  while  the  Bannisdale  house- 
hold had  been  absorbed  in  some  function  of  the 
season. 

Augustina  disliked  the  news  as  much  as  he  did, 
and  would  throw  up  her  hands  in  annoyance. 

*'  What  can  she  be  doing  there  ?  They  seem  the 
roughest  kind  of  people.  But  she  says  the  son  plays 
so  wonderfully.  I  believe  she  plays  duets  Avith  him. 
She  goes  out  with  the  cart  full  of  music." 

"  Music ! "  said  Helbeck,  in  frank  amazement. 
•'That  lout!" 

''  Well,  she  says  so,"  said  Augustina  crossly,  as 
though  it  were  a  personal  affront.  "And  what  do 
you  think,  Alan  ?  She  talks  of  going  to  a  dance  up 
there  after  Easter  —  next  Thursday,  I  think." 

"  At  the  farm  ?  "     Helbeck's  tone  was  incredulous. 

"No;  at  the  mill  — or  somewhere.  She  says  the 
schoolmaster  is  giving  it,  or  something  of  that  sort. 
Of  course  it's  most  unsuitable.  But  what  am  I  to  do, 
Alan  ?     They  are  her  relations  !  " 

"  At  the  same  time  they  are  not  her  class,"  said 
Helbeck  decidedly.     "•  She  has  been  brought  up  in  a 


HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE  193 

different  way,  and  she  cannot  behave  as  though  she 
belonged  to  them.  And  a  dance,  with  that  young 
man  to  look  after  her !     You  ought  to  stop  it." 

Augustina  said  dismally  that  she  would  try,  but 
her  head  shook  with  more  feebleness  than  usual  as 
she  went  back  to  her  knitting. 

Next  day  Helbeck  made  a  point  of  finding  his  sister 
alone.     But  she  only  threw  him  a  deprecatory  look. 

"  I  tried,  Alan  —  indeed  I  did.  She  says  that  she 
wants  some  amusement  —  that  it  will  do  her  good  — 
and  that  of  course  her  father  would  have  let  her  go  to 
a  dance  with  his  relations.  And  when  I  say  anything 
to  her  about  not  being  quite  like  them,  she  fires  up. 
She  says  she  would  be  ashamed  to  be  thought  any 
better  than  they,  and  that  Hubert  has  a  great  deal 
more  good  in  him  than  some  people  think." 

"  Hubert ! "  exclaimed  Mr.  Helbeck,  raising  his 
shoulders  in  disgust.  After  a  little  silence  he  turned 
round  as  he  was  leaving  the  room,  and  said  abruptly : 
"  Is  she  to  stay  the  night  at  the  farm  ?  " 

"  No !  oh,  no !  She  wants  to  come  home.  She  says 
she  won't  be  late ;  she  promises  not  to  be  late." 

"And  that  young  fellow  will  drive  her  home,  of 
course  ? " 

'''  Well,  she  couldn't  drive  home  alone,  Alan,  at  that 
time  of  night.     It  wouldn't  be  proper." 

VOL.    I.  —  O 


194  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Mr.  Helbeck  smiled  rather  sourly.  "  One  may 
doubt  where  the  propriety  comes  in.  Well,  she 
seems  determined.  We  must  just  arrange  it.  There 
is  the  tower  door.  Kindly  tell  her,  Augustina,  that 
I  will  let  her  have  the  key  of  it.  And  kindly  tell  her 
also  —  as  from  yourself,  of  course  —  that  she  will  be 
treating  us  all  with  courtesy  if  she  does  come  home 
at  a  reasonable  hour.  We  have  been  a  very  quiet, 
prim  household  all  these  years,  and  Mrs.  Denton,  for 
all  her  virtues,  has  a  tongue." 

"  So  she  has,"  said  Augustina,  sighing.  "  And  she 
doesn't  like  Laura  —  not  at  all." 

Helbeck  raised  his  head  quickly.  "  She  does  noth- 
ing to  make  Miss  Fountain  uncomfortable,  I  trust  ?  " 

"Oh  —  no,"  said  Augustina  undecidedly.  "Be- 
sides, it  doesn't  matter.  Laura  has  got  Ellen  under 
her  thumb." 

Helbeck's  grave  countenance  showed  a  gleam  of 
amusement. 

"  How  does  Mrs.  Denton  take  that  ?  " 

"  Oh  !  she  has  to  bear  it.  Haven't  you  seen,  Alan, 
how  the  girl  has  brightened  up  ?  Laura  has  shown 
her  how  to  do  her  hair ;  she  helped  her  to  make  a 
new  frock  for  Easter;  the  girl  would  do  anything  in 
the  world  for  her.  It's  like  Bruno.  Do  you  notice, 
Alan  —  I  really  thought  you  would  be  angry  —  that 
the  dog  will  hardly  go  with  you  when  Laura's  there?" 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  195 

"  Oh !  Miss  Fountain  is  a  very  attractive  young  lady 
—  to  those  slie  likes,"  said  Helbeck  dryly. 
And  on  that  he  went  away. 

On  Good  Friday  afternoon  Laura,  in  a  renewed 
passion  of  revolt  against  all  that  was  going  on  in  the 
house,  went  to  her  room  and  wrote  to  her  friend.  Lit- 
anies were  being  said  in  the  chajoel.  The  distant, 
melancholy  sounds  mounted  to  her  now  and  then. 
Otherwise  the  house  was  wrapped  in  a  mourning 
silence ;  and  outside,  trailing  clouds  hung  round  the 
old  walls,  making  a  penitential  barrier  all  about  it. 

"After  this  week,"  wrote  Laura  to  her  friend, 
"I  shall  always  feel  kindly  towards  'sin'  —  and 
the  '  world ' !  Plow  they  have  been  scouted  and 
scourged !  And  what,  I  ask  you,  would  any  of  us  do 
without  them?  The  'world,'  indeed!  I  seem  to 
hear  it  go  rumbling  on,  the  poor,  patient,  toiling 
thing,  while  these  people  are  praying.  It  works,  and 
makes  it  possible  for  them  to  pray —  while  they  abuse 
and  revile  it. 

"And  as  to  'sin,'  and  the  gloom  in  which  we  all 
live  because  of  it  —  what  on  earth  does  it  really 
mean  to  any  decently  taught  and  brought-up  creat- 
ure? You  are  greedy,  or  selfish,  or  idle,  or  ill-l)e- 
havt'd.  Very  well,  then  —  nature,  or  your  next-door 
neighbour,  knocks  you  down  for  it,  and  serve  you  right 


196  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

iSText  time  you  won't  do  it  again,  or  not  so  badly,  and 
by  degrees  you  don't  even  like  to  think  of  doing  it  — 
you  would  be  '  ashamed,'  as  people  say.  It's  the  pro- 
cess that  everybody  has  to  go  through,  I  suppose  — 
being  sent  into  the  world  the  sort  of  beings  we  are, 
and  without  any  leave  of  ours,  altogether.  But  why 
make  such  a  Availing  and  woe  and  hullabaloo  about 
if!  Oh  —  such  a  waste  of  time!  Why  doesn't  Mr. 
Helbeck  go  and  learn  geology  ?  I  vow  he  hasn't 
an  idea  what  the  rocks  of  his  own  valley  are  made 
of! 

"  Of  course  there  are  the  very  great  villains  —  I 
don't  like  to  think  about  them.  And  the  people  who 
are  born  wrong  and  sick.  But  by-and-by  we  shall 
have  weeded  them  out,  or  improved  the  breed.  And 
why  not  spend  your  energies  on  doing  that,  ins'tead 
of  singing  litanies,  and  taking  ridiculous  pains  not 
to  eat  the  things  you  like  ? 

''.  .  .  I  shall  soon  be  in  disgrace  with  Augustina 
and  Mr.  Helbeck,  about  the  Masons  —  worse  disgrace, 
that  is  to  say.  For  now  that  I  have  found  a  pony 
of  my  own,  I  go  up  there  two  or  three  times  a  week. 
And  really  —  in  spite  of  all  those  first  experiences 
I  told  you  of  —  I  like  it!  Cousin  Elizabeth  has 
begun  to  talk  to  me;  and  when  I  come  home,  I 
read  the  Bible  to  see  what  it  was  all  about.  And 
I  don't  let  her  say  too  bad  things  about  Mr.  Helbeck 


IIELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  197 

—  it  wouldn't  be  quite  gentlemanly  on  my  part. 
And  I  know  most  of  the  Williams  story  now,  both 
from  her  and  Augustina. 

"  Imagine,  my  dear  !  —  a  son  not  alloAved  to  eomo 
and  see  his  mother  before  she  died,  though  she  cried 
for  him  night  and  day.  He  was  at  a  Jesuit  school 
in  Wales.  They  shilly-shallied,  and  wrote  endless 
letters  —  and  at  last  they  sent  him  off  —  the  day 
she  died.  He  arrived  three  hours  too  late,  and  his 
father  shut  the  door  in  his  face.  'Noa  yo'  shan't 
see  her,'  said  the  grim  old  fellow  — '  an  if  there's 
a  God  above,  yo'  shan't  see  her  in  heaven  nayder!' 
Augustina  of  course  calls  it  '  holy  obedience.' 

"  The  painting  in  the  chapel  is  really  extraor- 
dinary, Mr.  Helbeck  seems  to  have  taught  the 
young  man,  to  begin  with.  He  himself  used  to 
paint  long  ago  —  not  very  well,  I  should  think,  to 
judge  from  the  bits  of  his  Avork  still  left  in  the 
chapel.  r>ut  at  any  rate  the  youth  learnt  the 
rudiments  from  him,  and  then  of  course  went  fur 
beyond  his  teacher.  He  was  almost  two  years  here, 
working  in  the  hoiise  —  tabooed  by  his  family  all 
the  time.  Then  there  seems  to  have  boeu  a  year  in 
London,  when  he  gave  Mr.  Helbeck  some  troid)le. 
I  don't  know  —  Augustina  is  vague.  How  it  was 
that  he  joined  the  Jesuits  I  can't  make  out.  'So 
doubt  Mr.  Helbeck  induced  them  to  taki-  him.      i'.ut 


198  UELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

ichy  —  I  ask  you  —  with  such  a  gift?  They  say  he 
will  be  here  in  the  summer,  and  one  will  have  to 
set  one's  teeth  and  shake  hands  with  him, 

"Oh,  that  droning  in  the  chapel  —  there  it  is 
again!  I  will  open  the  window  and  let  the  howd 
of  the  rain  in  to  get  rid  of  it.  And  yet  I  can't 
always  keep  myself  away  from  it.  It  is  all  so  new 
—  so  horribly  intimate.  Every  now  and  then  the 
music  or  a  prayer  or  something  sends  a  stab  right 
down  to  my  heart  of  hearts.  —  A  voice  of  suffering, 
of  torture  —  oh !  so  ghastly,  so  real.  Then  I  come 
and  read  papa's  note-books  for  an  hour  to  forget 
it.  I  wish  he  had  ever  taught  me  anything  — 
strictly !     But  of  course  it  was  my  fault. 

"...  As  to  this  dance,  why  shouldn't  I  go  ?  — 
just  tell  me  !  It  is  being  given  by  the  new  school- 
master, and  tw^o  or  three  young  farmers,  in  the  big 
room  at  the  old  mill.  The  schoolmaster  is  the  most 
tiresomely  virtuous  young  man,  and  the  wdiole  thing 
is  so  respectable,  it  makes  me  yawn  to  think  of  it. 
Polly  implores  me  to  go,  and  I  like  Polly.  (Very 
soon  she'll  let  me  halve  her  fringe !)  I  gave  Hubert 
a  preliminary  snub,  and  now  he  doesn't  dare  im- 
plore me  to  go.  But  that  is  all  the  more  engaging. 
I  donH  flirt  with  him  !  —  heavens  !  —  unless  you  call 
bear-taming  flirtation.  But  one  can't  see  his  music 
running   to   waste   in   such   a  bog  of  tantrums   and 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  199 

tempers.     I  must  try  my  hand.     And  as  he  is  my 
cousin  I  can  put  up  with  him." 

After  High  Mass  on  Easter  Sunday  Helbeck 
walked  home  from  Whinthorpe  alone,  as  his  com- 
panion Father  Leadham  had  an  engagement  in  the 
town. 

Through  the  greater  part  of  Holy  Week  the  skies 
had  been  as  grey  and  penitential  as  the  season. 
The  fells  and  the  river  flats  had  been  scourged  at 
night  Avith  torrents  of  rain  and  wind,  and  in  the 
pale  mornings  any  passing  promise  of  sun  had  been 
drowned  again  before  the  day  was  high.  The  roofs 
and  eaves,  the  small  panes  of  the  old  house,  trickled 
and  shone  with  rain;  and  at  night  the  wind  tore 
through  the  gorge  of  the  river  with  great  boomings 
and  onslaughts  from  the  west.  But  with  Easter 
eve  there  had  come  appeasement  —  a  quiet  dying 
of  the  long  storm.  And  as  Helbeck  made  his  way 
along  the  river  on  Easter  morning,  mountain  and 
flood,  grass  and  tree,  were  in  a  glory  of  recovered 
sun.  The  distant  fells  were  drawn  upon  the  sky 
in  the  heavenliest  brushings  of  blue  and  purple ; 
the  river  thundered  over  its  falls  and  weirs  in  a 
foamy  splendour;  and  the  deer  were  feeding  with 
a  new  zest  amid  the  fast-greening  grass. 

He  stopped  a  moment  lu  rest  upon  his  stick  and 


200  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

look  about  liim.  Something  in  his  own  movement 
reminded  him  of  another  solitary  walk  some  live 
weeks  before.  And  at  the  same  instant  he  perceived 
a  small  figure  sitting  on  a  stone  seat  in  front  of  him. 
It  was  Miss  Fountain.  She  had  a  book  on  her  knee, 
and  the  two  dogs  were  beside  her.  Her  white  dress 
and  hat  seemed  to  make  the  centre  of  a  whole  land- 
scape. The  river  bent  inward  in  a  great  sweep  at  her 
feet,  the  crag  rose  behind  her,  and  the  great  prospect 
beyond  the  river  of  dale  and  wood,  of  scar  and  cloud, 
seemed  spread  there  for  her  eyes  alone.  A  strange 
fancy  seized  on  Helbeck.  This  w^as  his  world  —  his 
world  by  inheritance  and  by  love.  Five  weeks  before 
he  had  walked  about  it  as  a  solitary.  And  now  this 
figure  sat  enthroned,  as  it  were,  at  the  heart  of  it. 
He  roughly  shook  the  fancy  off  and  walked  on. 

Miss  Fountain  greeted  him  with  her  usual  detach- 
ment. He  stood  a  minute  or  two  irresolute,  then 
threw  himself  on  the  slope  in  front  of  her. 

"Bruno  will  hardly  look  at  his  master  now,"  he 
said  to  her  pleasantly,  pointing  to  the  dog's  attitude 
as  it  lay  wdth  its  nose  upon  the  hem  of  her  dress. 

Laura  closed  her  book  in  some  annoyance.  He 
usually  returned  by  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and 
she  was  not  grateful  to  him  for  his  breach  of  habit. 
Why  had  he  been  meddling  in  her  affairs  ?  She  per- 
fectly understood  why  Augustina   had   been  making 


UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  201 

herself  so  difficult  about  tlie  dance,  and  about  the 
Masons  in  general.  Let  him  keep  his  proprieties  to 
himself.  She,  Laura,  had  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
She  Avas  hardly  his  guest  —  still  less  his  Avard.  She 
had  come  to  Bannisdale  against  her  will,  simply  and 
solely  as  Augustina's  nurse.  In  return,  let  Mr.  Hel- 
beck  leave  her  alone  to  enjoy  her  plebeian  relations  as 
she  pleased. 

Nevertheless,  of  course  she  must  be  civil ;  and  civil 
she  intermittently  tried  to  be.  She  answered  his 
remark  about  Bruno  by  a  caress  to  the  dog  that 
brought  him  to  lay  his  muzzle  against  her  knee. 

"  Do  you  mind  ?  Some  people  do  mind.  I  can 
easily  drive  him  away." 

"  Oh,  no  !  I  reckon  on  recovering  him  —  some  day," 
he  said,  with  a  frank  smile. 

Laura  flushed. 

"Very  soon,  I  should  think.  Have  you  noticed, 
Mr.  Helbeck,  how  much  better  Augustina  is  already  ? 
I  believe  that  by  the  end  of  the  summer,  at  least,  she 
will  be  able  to  do  without  me.  And  she  tells  me  that 
the  Superior  at  the  orphanage  has  a  girl  to  recommend 
her  as  a  conipanion  when  I  go." 

"  Rather  officious  of  the  Reverend  Mother,  I  think," 
said  Helbeck  sharply.  He  paused  a  moment,  then  added 
with  some  emphasis,  "  Don't  imagine,  Miss  Fountain, 
that  anybody  else  can  do  for  my  sister  what  you  do." 


202  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

"Ah!  but  —  well  —  one  nmst  live  one's  life  — 
mustn't  one,  Fricka?" — Fricka  was  by  this  time 
jealously  pawing  her  dress.  "I  want  to  work  at  my 
music  —  hard  —  this  winter." 

"  And  I  fear  that  Bannisdale  is  not  a  very  gay  place 
for  a  young  lady  visitor  ?  " 

He  smiled.  And  so  did  she ;  though  his  tone,  with 
its  shade  of  proud  humility,  embarrassed  her. 

"  It  is  as  beautiful  as  a  dream  !  "  she  said,  with  sud- 
den energy,  throwing  up  her  little  hand.  And  he 
turned  to  look,  as  she  was  looking,  at  the  river  and 
the  woods. 

"  You  feel  the  beauty  of  it  so  much  ?  "  he  asked 
her,  wondering.  His  own  strong  feeling  for  his 
native  place  was  all  a  matter  of  old  habit  and  associ- 
ation. The  flash  of  wild  pleasure  in  her  face  as- 
tounded him.  There  was  in  it  that  fiery,  tameless 
something  that  was  the  girl's  distinguishing  mark, 
her  very  soul  and  self.  Was  it  beginning  to  speak 
from  her  blood  to  his  ? 

She  nodded,  then  laughed. 

"But,  of  course,  it  isn't  my  business  to  live  here. 
I  have  a  great  friend  —  a  Cambridge  girl  —  and  we 
have  arranged  it  all.  We  are  to  live  together,  and 
travel  a  great  deal,  and  work  at  music." 

"  That  is  what  young  ladies  do  nowadays,  I  under- 
stand." 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  203 

"  And  why  not  ?  " 

He  lifted  his  shoulders,  as  though  to  decline  the 
answer,  and  was  silent  —  so  silent  that  she  was  forced 
at  last  to  take  the  field. 

"  Don't  you  approve  of  '  new  women,'  Mr.  Helbeck  ? 
Oh !  I  wish  I  Avere  a  new  woman,"  she  threw  out 
defiantly.  ''But  I'm  not  good  enough  —  I  don't  know 
anything." 

"I  wasn't  thinking  of  them,"  he  said  simply.  "I 
was  thinking  of  the  life  that  women  used  to  live  here, 
in  this  place,  in  the  past  —  of  my  mother  and  my 
grandmother." 

She  could  not  help  a  stir  of  interest.  What  might 
the  Catholic  Avomen  of  Bannisdale  have  been  like  ? 
She  looked  along  the  path  that  led  downward  to  the 
house,  and  seemed  to  see  their  figures  upon  it  —  not 
short  and  sickly  like  Augustina,  but  with  the  morning 
in  their  eyes  and  on  their  white  brows,  like  the 
Romney  ladj^  Helbeck's  thoughts  meanwhile  were 
peopled  by  the  more  solid  forms  of  memory. 

"  You  remember  the  picture  ? "  he  said  at  last, 
breaking  the  silence.  "  The  hTisband  of  that  lady 
was  a  boor  and  a  gambler.  He  soon  broke  her  heart. 
But  her  children  consoled  her  to  some  extent,  es- 
pecially the  daughters,  several  of  whom  became  nuns. 
The  poor  wife  came  from  a  lai'ge  Lancashire  family, 
but  she  hardly  saw  her  relations  after  her  marriage ; 


204  HE  LB  EC  K  OF  BANNISDALE 

she  was  ashamed  of  her  husband's  failings  and  of 
their  growing  poverty.  She  became  very  shy  and 
solitary,  and  very  devout.  These  rock-seats  along 
the  river  were  placed  by  her.  It  is  said  that  she 
used  in  summer  to  spend  long  hours  on  that  very  seat 
where  you  are  sitting,  doing  needlework,  or  reading 
the  Little  Office  of  the  Virgin,  at  the  hours  when  her 
daughters  in  their  French  convent  would  be  saying 
their  office  in  chapel.  She  died  before  her  husband,  a 
very  meek,  broken  creature.  I  have  a  little  book  of 
her  meditations,  that  she  wrote  out  by  the  wish  of  her 
confessor. 

"  Then  my  grandmother  —  ah  !  well,  that  is  too 
long  a  story.  She  was  a  Frenchwoman  —  we  have 
some  of  her  books  in  my  study.  She  never  got  on 
with  England  and  English  people  —  and  at  last,  after 
her  husband's  death,  she  never  went  outside  the  house 
and  park.  My  father  owed  much  of  his  shyness  and 
oddity  to  her  -bringing  up.  When  she  felt  herself 
dying  she  went  over  to  her  family  to  die  at  Nantes. 
She  is  buried  there ;  and  my  father  was  sent  to  the 
Jesuit  school  at  Nantes  for  a  long  time.  Then  my 
mother  —  But  I  mustn't  bore  you  with  these  family 
tales." 

He  turned  to  look  at  his  listener.  Laura  was  by 
this  time  half  embarrassed,  half  touched. 

"  I  should  like  to  hear  about  your  mother,"  she 
said  rather  stiffly. 


IlELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  205 

"  You  may  talk  to  me  if  you  like,  but  don't,  pray, 
presume  upon  it !  "  —  that  was  what  her  manner  said. 

Helbeck  smiled  a  little,  unseen,  under  his  black 
moustache. 

"  My  mother  was  a  great  lover  of  books  —  the  only 
Helbeck,  I  think,  that  ever  read  anything.  She  was 
a  friend  and  correspondent  of  Cardinal  Wiseman's  — 
and  she  tried  to  make  a  family  history  out  of  the 
papers  here.  But  in  her  later  years  she  was  twisted 
and  crippled  by  rheumatic  gout  —  her  poor  fingers 
could  not  turn  the  pages.  I  used  to  help  her  some- 
times ;  but  we  none  of  us  shared  her  tastes.  She  was 
a  very  happy  person,  however." 

Happy  !  Why  ?  Laura  felt  a  fresh  prick  of  irrita- 
tion as  he  paused.  Was  she  never  to  escape  —  not 
even  here,  in  the  April  sun,  beside  the  river  bank! 
For,  of  course,  what  all  this  meant  was  that  the  really 
virtuous  and  admirable  woman  does  not  roam  the 
world  in  search  of  art  and  friendship  ;  she  makes  her- 
self happy  at  home  with  religion  and  rheumatic  gout. 

But  Helbeck  resumed.  And  instantly  it  struck  her 
that  he  had  dropped  a  sentence,  and  was  taking  up 
the  thread  further  on. 

"  But  there  was  no  priest  in  the  house  then,  for  the 
Society  could  not  spare  us  one  ;  and  very  few  services 
in  the  chapel.  Through  all  her  young  days  nothing 
could  be  poorer  or  raggeder  than  English  Catholicism. 


206  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

There  was  no  clinrch  at  Whintliorpe.  Sunday  aftei 
Sunday  my  father  iised  to  read  the  prayers  in  the 
chapel,  which  was  half  a  lumber-room.  I  often  think 
no  Dissent  could  have  been  barer ;  but  we  heard  Mass 
wlien  we  could,  and  that  was  enough  for  us.  One  of 
the  priests  from  Stonyhurst  came  when  she  died. 
This  is  her  little  missal." 

He  raised  it  from  the  grass  —  a  small  volume  bound 
in  faded  morocco  —  but  he  did  not  offer  to  show  it  to 
Miss  Fountain,  an.d  she  felt  no  inclination  to  ask  for 
it. 

"  Why  did  they  live  so  much  alone  ? "  she  asked 
him,  with  a  little  frown.  "I  suppose  there  were 
always  neighbours  ?  " 

He  shook  his  head. 

"  A  difference  that  has  law  and  education  besides 
religion  behind  it,  goes  deep.     Times  are  changed, 
but  it  goes  deep  still." 
^  There  was  a  pause.     Then  she  looked  at  him  with 
a  whimsical  lifting  of  her  brows. 

"  Bannisdale  was  not  amusing  ? "  she  said. 

He  laughed  good-humouredly.  ''  Not  for  a  woman, 
certainly.  For  a  man,  yes.  There  was  plenty  of 
rough  sport  and  card-playing,  and  a  good  deal  of 
drinking.  The  men  were  full  of  character,  often  full 
of  ability.  But  there  was  no  outlet  —  and  a  wretched 
education.     My   great-grandfather   might   have   been 


HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE  207 

saved  by  a  commission  in  the  army.  But  the  law 
forbade  it  him.  So  they  lived  to  themselves  and  by 
themselves ;  they  didn't  choose  to  live  with  their 
Protestant  neighbours  —  who  had  made  them  outlaws 
and  inferiors  !  And,  of  course,  they  sank  in  manners 
and  refinement.  You  may  see  the  results  in  all  the 
minor  Catholic  families  to  this  day  —  that  is,  the  old 
families.  The  few  great  houses  that  remained  faith- 
ful escaped  many  of  the  drawbacks  of  the  position. 
The  smaller  ones  suffered,  and  succumbed.  But  they 
had  their  compensations  !  " 

As  he  spoke  he  rose  from  the  grass,  and  the  dogs, 
springing  up,  barked  joyously  about  him. 

"  Angustina  will  be  waiting  dinner  for  us,  I  think." 

Laura,  who  had  meant  to  stay  behind,  saw  that  she 
was  expected  to  walk  home  with  him.  She  rose  un- 
willingly, and  moved  on  beside  him. 

"  Their  compensations  ?  "  That  meant  the  Mass 
and  all  the  rest  of  this  tyrannous  clinging  religion. 
What  did  it  honestly  mean  to  Mr.  Helbeck  —  to  any- 
body? She  remembered  her  father's  rough  laugh. 
"  There  are  twelve  hundred  men,  my  dear,  belonging 
to  the  Athenaeum  Club.  I  give  you  the  bishops. 
After  them,  what  do  you  suppose  religion  has  to  say 
to  the  rest  of  the  twelve  hundred?  How  many  of 
them  ever  give  a  thought  to  it  ?  " 

She  raised  her  eyes,  furtively,  to  Helbeck's  face. 


208  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

In  spite  of  its  melanclioly  lines,  she  had  lately 
begnn  to  see  that  its  fundamental  expression  was  a 
contented  one.  That,  no  doubt,  came  from  the  "com- 
pensations." But  to-day  there  was  more.  She  was 
positively  startled  by  his  look  of  happiness  as  he 
strode  silently  along  beside  her.  It  was  all  the  more 
striking  because  of  the  plain  traces  left  upon  him 
by  Lenten  fatigue  and  "  mortification." 

It  was  Easter  day,  and  she  supposed  he  had  come 
from  Communion. 

A  little  shiver  passed  through  her,  caused  by  the 
recollection  of  words  she  had  heard,  acts  of  which 
she  had  been  a  witness,  in  the  chapel  during  the  fore- 
going week  —  words  and  acts  of  emotion,  of  abandon- 
ment—  love  crying  to  love.  A  momentary  thirst 
seized  her  —  an  instant's  sense  of  privation,  of  long- 
ing, gone  almost  as  soon  as  it  had  come. 

Helbeck  turned  to  her. 

"  So  this  dance  you  are  going  to  is  on  Thursday  ?  " 
he  said  pleasantly. 

She  came  to  herself  in  a  moment. 

"  Yes,  on  Thursday,  at  eight.  I  shall  go  early.  I 
have  engaged  a  fly  to  take  me  to  the  farm  —  thank 
you !  —  and  my  cousins  will  see  me  home.  I  am 
obliged  to  you  for  the  key.  It  will  save  my  giving 
any  trouble." 

"  If  you  did  we  should  not  grudge  it,"  he  said 
quietly. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  209 

She  was  silent  for  a  few  more  steps,  then  she  said : 

''  I  qnite  understand,  Mr.  Helbeck,  that  yon  do  not 
approve  of  my  going.  But  I  must  judge  for  myself. 
The  Masons  are  my  own  people.  I  am  sorry  they 
should  have —  Well  —  I  don't  understand — but  it 
seems  you  have  reason  to  think  badly  of  them." 

"  Not  of  them,''''  he  said  with  emphasis. 

"■  Of  my  cousin  Hubert,  then  ?  " 

He  made  no  answer.  She  coloured  angrily,  then 
broke  out,  her  words  tumbling  childishly  over  one 
another : 

"  There  are  a  great  many  things  said  of  Hubert  that 
I  don't  believe  he  deserves!  He  has  a  great  many 
good  tastes  —  his  music  is  wonderful.  At  any  rate, 
he  is  my  cousin;  they  are  papa's  only  relations  in 
the  world.  He  would  have  been  kind  to  Hubert ;  and 
he  would  have  despised  me  if  I  turned  my  back  on 
them  because  I  was  staying  in  a  grand  house  with 
grand  people ! " 

"Grand  people!"  said  Helbeck,  raising  his  eye- 
brows. "But  I  am  sorry  I  led  you  to  say  these 
things,  Miss  Fountain.  Excuse  me  —  may  I  open 
this  gate  for  you  ?  " 

She  reached  her  own  room  as  quickly  as  possible, 
and  dropped  upon  the  chair  beside  her  dressing-table 
in  a  wliirl  of  angry  feeling.  A  small  and  heated  face 
looked  out  upon  her  from  the  glass.     But  after  the 

VOL.   I.  — P 


210  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

first  instinctive  moment  she  took  no  notice  of  it. 
With  the  mind's  eye  she  still  saw  the  figure  she  head, 
just  parted  from,  the  noble  poise  of  the  head,  thrown 
back  on  the  broad  shoulders,  the  black  and  greys  of 
the  hair,  the  clear  penetrating  glance  —  all  the  slight 
signs  of  age  and  austerity  that  had  begun  to  filch 
away  the  Squire's  youth.  It  was  at  least  ten  minutes 
before  she  could  free  herself  enough  from  the  unwel- 
come memories  of  her  walk  to  find  a  vindictive 
pleasure  in  running  hastily  to  look  at  her  one  white 
dress  —  all  she  had  to  wear  at  the  Browhead  dance. 

On  Thursday  afternoon  Helbeck  was  fishing  in  the 
park.  The  sea-trout  were  coming  up,  the  day  was 
soft,  and  he  had  done  well.  But  just  as  the  evening 
rise  was  beginning  he  put  up  his  rod  and  went  home.. 
Father  Leadham  had  taken  his  departure.  Augustina, 
Miss  Fountain,  and  he  were  again  alone  in  the  house. 

He  went  into  his  study,  and  left  the  door  open, 
while  he  busied  himself  with  some  writing. 

Presently  Augustina  put  her  head  in.  She  looked 
dishevelled,  and  rather  pinker  than  usual,  as  always 
happened  when  there  was  the  smallest  disturbance 
of  her  routine. 

"Laura  has  just  gone  up  to  dress,  Alan.  Is  it 
fine  ?  " 

"  There  is  no  rain,"  he  said,  Avithout  turning  his 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  211 

head.  "Don't  shut  the  door,  please.  This  fire  is 
oppressive." 

She  went  away,  and  he  wrote  on  a  little  while  — 
then  listened.  He  heard  hurrying  feet  and  move- 
ments overhead,  and  presently  a  door  opened  hastily, 
and  a  voice  exclaimed,  "  Just  two  or  three,  you  know, 
Ellen  —  from  that  corner  under  the  kitchen-window  ! 
Run,  there's  a  good  girl !  " 

And  there  Avas  a  clattering  noise  as  Ellen  ran  down 
the  front  stairs,  and  then  flew  along  the  corridor  to 
the  garden-door. 

In  a  minute  she  was  back  again,  and  as  she  passed 
his  room  Helbeck  saw  that  she  was  carrying  a  bunch 
of  white  narcissus. 

Then  more  sounds  of  laughter  and  chatter  overhead. 
At  last  Augustina  hurried  down  and  looked  in  upon 
him  again,  flurried  and  smiling. 

"Alan,  you  really  must  see  her.  She  looks  so 
pretty." 

"1  am  afraid  I'm  busy,"  he  said,  still  writing. 
And  she  retired  disappointed,  careful,  however,  to 
follow  his  wishes  about  the  door. 

"  Augustina,  hold  Bruno !  "  cried  a  light  voice  sud- 
denly.    "  If  he  jumps  on  me  I'm  done  for ! " 

A  swish  of  soft  skirts  and  she  was  there  —  in  the 
hall.  Helbeck  could  see  her  quite  plainly  as  she 
stood  by  the  oak  table  in  her  white  dress.     There  was 


212  IIELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

just  room  at  the  throat  of  it  for  a  pearl  necklace,  and 
at  the  wrists  for  some  thin  gold  bracelets.  The  nar- 
cissus were  in  her  hair,  which  she  had  coiled  and 
looped  in  a  Avonderful  way,  so  that  Helbeck's  eyes 
were  dazzled  by  its  colour  and  abundance,  and  by  the 
whiteness  of  the  slender  neck  below  it.  She  mean- 
while was  quite  unconscious  of  his  neighbourhood, 
and  he  saw  that  she  was  all  in  a  happy  flutter,  hastily 
putting  on  her  gloves,  and  chattering  alternately  to 
Augustina  and  to  the  transformed  Ellen,  who  stood 
in  speechless  admiration  behind  her,  holding  a  cloak. 

"  There,  Ellen,  that'll  do.  You're  a  darling  —  and 
the  flowers  are  perfect.  Run  now,  and  tell  Mrs. 
Denton  that  I  didn't  keep  you  more  than  twenty 
minutes.  Oh,  yes,  Augustina,  I'm  quite  warm.  I 
can't  choke,  dear,  even  to  please  you.  There  now  — 
here  goes !  If  you  do  lock  me  out,  there's  a  corner 
under  the  bridge,  quite  snug.  My  dress  will  mind  —  . 
I  shan't.  Good-night.  My  compliments  to  Mr. 
Helbeck." 

Then  a  hasty  kiss  to  Augustina  and  she  was  gone. 

Helbeck  went  out  into  the  hall.  Augustina  was 
standing  on  the  steps,  watching  the  departing  fly. 
At  the  sight  of  her  brother  she  turned  back  to  him, 
her  poor  little  face  aglow. 

"  She  did  look  so  nice,  Alan  !  I  wish  she  had  gone 
to  a  proper  dance,  and  not  to  these  odd  farmers  and 


UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  213 

people.     Why,  they'll  all  go  in  their   high   dresses, 
and  think  her  stuck-up." 

"I  assure  you  I  never  saw  anything  so  smart  as 
Miss  Mason  at  the  hunt  ball,"  said  Helbeck.  "Did 
you  give  her  the  key,  Augustina  ?  But  I  shall  prob- 
ably sit  up.  There  are  some  Easter  accounts  that 
must  be  done." 

The  old  clock  in  the  hall  struck  one.  Helbeck  was 
sitting  in  his  familiar  chair  before  the  log  fire,  which 
he  had  just  replenished.  In  one  hand  was  a  life  of 
St.  Philip  Neri,  the  other  played  absently  with  Bruno's 
ears.     In  truth  he  was  not  reading  but  listening. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  sound.  He  turned  his  head, 
and  saw  that  the  door  leading  from  the  hall  to  the 
tower  staircase,  and  thence  to  the  kitchen  regions, 
had  been  opened. 

"  Who's  there  ?  "  he  said  in  astonishment. 

Mrs.  Denton  appeared. 

"  You,  Denton !  ^Vhat  are  you  up  for  at  this 
time  ?  " 

"  I  came  to  see  if  the  yoong  lady  had  coom  back," 
she  said  in  a  low  voice,  and  with  her  most  forbidding 
manner.     "  It's  late,  and  I  heard  nowt." 

"  Late  ?  Not  at  all !  Go  to  bed,  Denton,  at  once ; 
Miss  Fountain  will  be  here  directly." 

"  I'm  not  sleepy ;    I  can  wait   for   her,"  said   the 


214  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

housekeeper,  advancing  a  step  or  two  into  the  hall. 
"  You  niiui  be  tired,  sir,  and  should  take  your  rest." 

"I'm  not  the  least  tired,  thank  you.  Good-night. 
Let  me  recommend  you  to  go  to  bed  as  quickly  as 
possible." 

Mrs.  Denton  lingered  for  a  moment,  as  though  in 
hesitation,  then  went  with  a  sulky  unwillingness 
that  was  very  evident  to  her  master. 

Helbeck  laid  down  his  book  on  his  knee  with  a 
little  laugh. 

"  She  would  have  liked  to  get  in  a  scolding,  but 
we  won't  give  her  the  chance." 

The  reverie  that  followed  was  not  a  very  pleasant 
one.  He  seemed  to  see  Miss  Fountain  in  the  large 
rustic  room,  with  a  bevy  of  young  men  about  her  — 
young  fellows  in  Sunday  coats,  with  shiny  hair  and 
limbs  bursting  out  of  their  ill-fitting  clothes.  There 
would  be  loud  talking  and  laughter,  rough  jokes  that 
would  make  her  wince,  compliments  that  would  dis- 
gust her  —  they  not  knowing  how  to  take  her,  nor 
she  them.  She  would  be  wholly  out  of  her  place  — 
a  butt  for  impertinence  —  perhaps  worse.  And  there 
would  be  a  certain  sense  of  dragging  a  lady  from 
her  sphere  —  of  making  free  with  the  old  house  and 
the  old  family. 

He  thought  of  it  with  disgust.  He  was  an  aristo- 
crat to  his  fingers'  ends. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  215 

But  how  could  it  have  beeu  helped  ?  And  when  he 
remembered  her  as  she  had  stood  there  in  the  hall, 
so  young  and  pretty,  so  eager  for  her  pleasure,  he 
said  to  himself  with  sudden  heartiness : 

"Xonsense!  I  hope  the  child  has  enjoyed  her- 
self." It  was  the  first  time  that,  even  in  his  least 
formal  thoughts,  he  had  applied  such  a  word  to  her. 

Silence  again.  The  wind  breathed  gently  round 
the  house.     He  could  hear  the  river  rushinsr. 

Once  he  thought  there  was  a  sound  of  wheels  and 
he  went  to  the  outer  door,  but  there  was  nothing. 
Overhead  the  stars  shone,  and  along  the  track  of 
the  river  lay  a  white  mist. 

As  he  was  turning  back  to  the  hall,  however,  he 
heard  voices  from  the  mist  —  a  loud  man's  voice, 
then  a  little  cry  as  of  some  one  in  fright  or  anger, 
then  a  song.  The  rollicking  tune  of  it  shouted  into 
the  night,  into  the  stately  stillness  that  surrounded 
the  old  house,  had  the  abruptest,  unseemliest  effect. 

Helbeck  ran  down  the  steps.  A  dog-cart  with 
lights  approached  the  gateway  in  the  low  stone  en- 
closure before  the  house.  It  shot  through  so  fast 
and  so  awkwardly  as  to  graze  the  inner  post.  There 
was  another  little  cry.  Then,  with  various  lurches 
and  lunges,  the  cart  drove  round  the  gravel,  and 
brought  up  somewhere  near  the  steps. 

Hubert  Mason  jumped  down. 


216  HELBECIC  OF  BANNISDALE 

"Who's  that?  Mr.  Helbeck?  O  Lord !  glad  to 
see  yer,  I'm  sure  !  Tliere's  that  little  silly  —  she's 
been  making'  such  a  fuss  all  the  way  —  thought  I 
was  going  to  upset  her  into  the  river,  I  do  believe. 
She  would  try  and  get  at  the  reins,  though  I  told  her 
it  was  the  worst  thing  to  do,  whatever  —  to  be  in- 
terfering with  the  driver.  Lord !  I  thought  she'd 
have  used  the  whip  to  me !  " 

And  Mason  stood  beside  the  shafts,  with  his  arms 
on  the  side,  laughing  loudly  and  looking  at  Laura. 

"  Stand  out  of  the  way,  sir !  "  said  Helbeck  sternly, 
"  and  let  me  help  Miss  Fountain." 

"  Oh !  I  say  !  —  Come  now,  I'm  not  going  to  stand 
yon  coming  it  over  me  twice  in  the  same  sort  —  not 
I,"  cried  the  young  man  with  a  violent  change  of  tone. 
"  You  get  out  of  the  way,  d — inn  you !  I  brought 
Miss  Fountain  home,  and  she's  my  cousin —  so  there ! 
—  not  yours." 

"  Hubert,  go  away  at  once ! "  said  Laura's  shaking 
but  imperious  voice.  "I  prefer  that  Mr.  Helbeck 
should  help  me." 

She  had  risen  and  was  clinging  to  the  rail  of  the 
dog-cart,  while  her  face  drooped  so  that  Helbeck  could 
not  see  it. 

Mason  stepped  back  with  another  oath,  caught  his 
foot  in  the  reins,  which  he  had  carelessly  left  hang- 
ing, and  fell  on  his  knees  on  the  gravel. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  217 

''  No  matter,"  said  llelbeck,  seeing  that  Laura 
paused  in  terror.  "  Give  me  your  liand,  Miss  Foun- 
tain." 

She  slipped  on  the  step  in  the  darkness,  and  Hel- 
beck  caught  her  and  set  her  on  her  feet. 

"  Go  in,  please.     I  will  look  after  him." 

She  ran  up  the  steps,  then  turned  to  look. 

Mason,  still  swearing  and  muttering,  had  some 
difficulty  in  getting  up.  Helbeck  stood  by  till  he 
had  risen  and  disentangled  the  reins. 

"  If  you  don't  drive  carefully  doAvn  the  park  in  the 
fog  you'll  come  to  harm,"  he  said,  shortly,  as  Mason 
mounted  to  his  seat. 

"That's  none  of  your  business,"  said  Mason  sulkily. 
"I  brought  my  cousin  all  right  —  I  suppose  I  can 
take  myself.     Now,  come  up,  will  you !  " 

He  struck  the  pony  savagely  on  the  back  with  the 
reins.  The  tired  animal  started  forward ;  the  cart 
swayed  again  from  side  to  side.  Helbeck  held  his 
breath  as  it  passed  the  gate-posts ;  but  it  shaved 
through,  and  soon  nothing  but  the  gallop  of  retreat- 
ing hoofs  could  be  heard  through  the  night. 

He  mounted  the  steps,  and  shut  and  l)arred  the 
outer  door.  Wlien  he  entered  the  hall,  l^aura  was 
sitting  by  the  oak  table,  one  hand  supporting  and 
liiding  her  face,  the  other  hanging  listlessly  beside 
her. 


218  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

She  struggled  to  her  feet  as  he  came  in.  The  hood 
of  her  blue  cloak  had  fallen  backwards,  and  her  haii 
was  in  confusion  round  her  face  and  neck.  Her 
cheeks  were  very  white,  and  there  were  tears  in  her 
eyes.  She  had  never  seemed  to  him  so  small,  so 
childish,  or  so  lovely. 

He  took  no  notice  of  her  agitation  or  of  her  efforts 
to  speak.  He  went  to  a  tray  of  wine  and  biscuits 
that  had  been  left  by  his  orders  on  a  side-table,  and 
poured  out  some  wine. 

"  No,  I  don't  want  it,"  she  said,  waving  it  away. 
"I  don't  know  what  to  say " 

''  You  woidd  do  best  to  take  it,"  he  said,  interrupt- 
ing her. 

His  quiet  insistence  overcame  her,  and  she  drank 
it.  It  gave  her  back  her  voice  and  a  little  colour. 
She  bit  her  lip,  and  looked  after  Helbeck  as  he 
walked  away  to  the  farther  end  of  the  hall  to  light 
a  candle  for  her. 

"Mr.  Helbeck,"  she  began  as  he  came  near.  Then 
she  gathered  force,  "  You  must  —  you  ought  to  let 
me  apologise." 

"  For  what  ?  I  am  afraid  you  had  a  disagreeable 
and  dangerous  drive  home.  Would  you  like  me  to 
wake  one  of  the  servants  —  Ellen,  perhaps  —  and 
tell  her  to  come  to  you  ?  " 

"  Oh !  you  won't  let  me  say  what  I  ought  to  say/'  she 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  219 

exclaimed  in  despair.     "  That  my  cousin  should  have 
behaved  like  this  —  should  have  insulted  you " 

"No!  no!"  he  said  with  some  peremptoriness. 
"Your  cousin  insulted  you  by  daring  to  drive  with 
you  in  such  a  state.  That  is  all  that  matters  to 
me  —  or  should,  I  think,  matter  to  you.  Will  you 
have  your  candle,  and  shall  I  call  anyone  ?  " 

She  shook  her  head  and  moved  towards  the  stair- 
case, he  accompanying  her.  When  he  saw  how 
feebly  she  walked,  he  was  on  the  point  of  asking 
her  to  take  his  arm  and  let  hiin  help  her  to  her 
room ;   but  he  refrained. 

At  th6  foot  of  the  stairs  she  paused.  Her  "  good- 
night" died  in  her  throat  as  she  offered  her  hand. 
Her  dejection,  her  girlish  shame,  made  her  inex- 
pressibly attractive  to  him;  it  was  the  first  time 
he  had  ever  seen  her  with  all  her  arms  thrown 
down.  But  he  said  nothing.  He  bade  her  good- 
night with  a  cheerful  courtesy,  and,  returning  to 
the  hall  fire,  he  stood  beside  it  till  he  heard  the 
distant  shutting  of  her  door. 

Then  he  sank  back  into  his  chair  and  sat  motion- 
less, with  knitted  brows,  for  nearly  an  hour,  staring 
into  the  caverns  of  the  fire. 


CHAPTER  II  ^' 

Laura  awoke  very  early  the  following  morning, 
but  though  the  sun  was  bright  outside,  it  brought 
no  gaiety  to  her.  The  night  before  she  had  hurried 
her  undressing,  that  she  might  bury  herself  in  her 
pillow  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  force  sleep  to 
come  to  her.  It  was  her  natural  instinct  in  the 
face  of  pain  or  humiliation.  To  escape  from  it  by 
any  summary  method  Avas  always  her  first  thought. 
"  I  will,  I  must  go  to  sleep ! "  she  had  said  to 
herself,  in  a  miserable  fury  with  herself  and  fate ; 
and  by  the  help  of  an  intense  exhaustion  sleep  came. 

But  in  the  morning  she  could  do  herself  no  more 
violence.  Memory  took  its  course,  and  a  very  dis- 
quieting course  it  was.  She  sat  up  in  bed,  with 
her  hands  round  her  knees,  thinking  not  only  of 
all  the  wretched  and  untoward  incidents  connected 
with  the  ball,  but  of  the  whole  three  weeks  that 
had  gone  before  it.  What  had  she  been  doing, 
how  had  she  been  behaving,  that  this  odious  youth 
should  have  dared  to  treat  her  in  such  a  way  ? 

Fricka    jumped   up   beside   her,    and    Laura    held 

220 


TIELBECK  OF  BANNI^DALE  221 

the  dog's  nose  against  her  cheek  for  comfort,  while 
she  confessed  herself.  Oh !  what  a  fool  she  had 
been.  Why,  pray,  had  she  been  paying  all  these 
visits  to  the  farm,  and  spending  all  these  hours  in 
this  young  fellow's  company  ?  Her  quick  intelli- 
gence unravelled  all  the  doubtful  skein.  Yearning 
towards  her  kindred?  —  yes,  there  had  been  some- 
thing of  that.  Recoil  from  the  Bannisdale  ways, 
an  angry  eagerness  to  scout  them  and  fly  them  ?  — 
yes,  that  there  had  always  been  in  plenty.  But  she 
dived  deeper  into  her  self-disgust,  and  brought  up  the 
real  bottom  truth,  disagreeable  and  hateful  as  it  was : 
mere  excitement  about  a  young  man,  as  a  young  man 
—  mere  love  of  power  over  a  great  hulking  fellow 
whom  other  people  found  unmanageable !  Aye,  there 
it  was,  in  spite  of  all  the  glosses  she  had  put  upon  it 
in  her  letters  to  Molly  Friedland.  All  through,  she 
had  known  perfectly  well  that  Hubert  Mason  was  not 
her  equal ;  that  on  a  number  of  subjects  he  had  vulgar 
habits  and  vulgar  ideas ;  that  he  often  expressed  his 
admiration  for  her  in  a  way  she  ought  to  have  resented. 
There  were  whole  sides  of  him,  indeed,  that  she 
shrank  from  exploring  —  that  she  wanted,  nay,  was 
determined,  to  know  nothing  about. 

On  the  other  hand,  her  young  daring,  for  want  of 
any  better  ])rey,  had  taken  pleasure  from  the  Ix'giu- 
ning   in   bringing   him   under   her  yoke.     With   her 


222  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

second  visit  to  the  farm  she  saw  that  she  could  make 
him  her  shive  —  that  she  had  only  to  show  him  a 
little  flattery,  a  little  encouragement,  and  he  would  be 
as  submissive  and  obedient  to  her  as  he  was  truculent 
and  ill-tempered  towards  the  rest  of  the  world.  And 
her  vanity  had  actually  plumed  itself  on  so  poor  a 
prey  !  One  excuse  —  yes,  there  was  the  one  excuse ! 
With  her  he  had  shown  the  side  that  she  alone  of  his 
kindred  could  appreciate.  But  for  the  fear  of  Cousin 
Elizabeth  she  could  have  kept  him  hanging  over  the 
piano  hour  after  hour  while  she  played,  in  a  passion 
of  delight.  Here  was  common  ground.  Nay,  in  native 
power  he  was  her  superior,  though  she,  with  her 
better  musical  training,  could  help  and  correct  him  in 
a  thousand  ways.  She  had  the  woman's  passion  for 
influence;  and  he  seemed  like  wax  in  her  hands. 
Why  not  help  him  to  education  and  refinement,  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  best  that  was  in  him  ?  She  would 
persuade  Cousin  Elizabeth  — alter  and  amend  his  life 
for  him  —  and  Mr.  Helbeck  should  see  that  there  were 
better  ways  of  dealing  with  peo|)le  than  by  looking 
down  upon  them  and  despising  them. 

And  now  the  very  thought  of  these  vain  and  silly 
dreams  set  her  face  aflame.  Power  over  him  ?  Let 
her  only  remember  the  humiliations,  through  which 
she  had  been  dragged  !  All  the  dance  came  back  upon 
her — the  strange  people,  the  strange  young  men,  the 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  223 

strange,  raftered  room,  with  the  noise  of  the  niill- 
stream  and  the  weir  vibrating  through  it,  and  min- 
gling with  the  chatter  of  the  fiddles.  But  she  had 
been  determined  to  enjoy  it,  to  give  herself  no  airs,  to 
forget  with  all  her  might  that  she  was  anyway  differ- 
ent from  these  dale-folk,  whose  blood  was  hers.  And 
with  the  older  people  all  had  been  easy.  With  the 
elderly  women  especially,  in  their  dark  gowns  and 
large  Sunday  collars,  she  had  felt  herself  at  home ; 
again  and  again  she  had  put  herself  under  their  wing, 
while  in  their  silent  way  they  turned  their  shrewd 
motherly  eyes  upon  her,  and  took  stock  of  her  and 
every  detail  of  her  dress.  And  the  old  men,  with 
their  patriarchal  manners  and  their  broad  speech  —  it 
had  been  all  sweet  and  pleasant  to  her.  "  Noo,  Miss, 
they  tell  ma  as  yo'  are  Stephen  Fountain's  dowter.  An 
I  mut  meak  bold  ter  cum  an  speak  to  thee,  for  a  knew 
'un  when  he  was  a  lile  lad."  Or  "  Yo'll  gee  ma  your 
hand,  Miss  Fountain,  for  we're  pleased  and  jDroud  to 
git  yo'  here.  Yer  fadther  an  mea  gaed  to  skule  toged- 
ther.  My  worrd,  but  he  was  parlish  cliver !  An  I 
daursay  as  you  teak  afther  him."  Kind  folk !  with 
all  the  signs  of  their  hard  and  simple  life  about  them. 
But  the  young  men  —  how  she  had  hated  them !  — 
whether  they  were  shy,  or  whether  they  were  bold; 
whether  they  romped  with  their  sweethearts,  and 
laughed  at  their  own  jokes  like  bulls  of  Bashan,  or 


224  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

whether  they  Avore  their  best  clothes  as  though  the 
garments  burnt  them,  and  danced  the  polka  in  a  per- 
spiring and  anguished  silence !  No ;  she  was  not  of 
their  class,  thank  Heaven !  She  never  wished  to  be. 
One  man  had  asked  her  to  put  a  pin  in  his  collar  ; 
another  had  spilt  a  cup  of  coffee  over  her  white  dress  ; 
a  third  had  confided  to  her  that  his  young  lady  was 
''that  luvin"  to  him  in  public,  he  had  been  fair 
obliged  to  bid  her  "  keep  hersel  to  hersel  afore  f oak." 
The  only  partner  Avith  whom  it  had  given  her  the 
smallest  pleasure  to  dance  had  been  the  schoolmaster 
and  principal  host  of  the  evening,  a  tall,  sickly  young 
man,  who  wore  spectacles  and  talked  through  his 
nose.  But  he  talked  of  things  she  understood,  and  he 
danced  tolerably.  Alas!  there  had  come  the  rub. 
Hubert  Mason  had  stood  sentinel  beside  her  during 
the  early  part  of  the  evening.  He  had  assumed  the 
proudest  and  niost  exclusive  aii'S  with  regard  to  her, 
and  his  chief  aim  seemed  to  be  to  impress  upon  her 
the  prestige  he  enjoyed  among  his  fellows  as  a  football 
player  and  an  athlete.  In  the  end  his  patronage  and 
his  boasting  had  become  insupportable  to  a  girl  of  any 
spirit.  And  his  dancing  !  It  seemed  to  her  that  he 
held  her  before  him  like  a  shield,  and  then  charged 
the  room  with  her.  She  had  found  herself  the  centre 
of  all  eyes,  her  pretty  dress  torn,  her  hair  about  her 
ears.      So  that  she  had  shaken  him   off  — with   too 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  225 

much  impatience,  no  doubt,  and  too  little  considera- 
tion for  the  touchiness  of  his  temper.  And  then,  what 
stormy  looks,  what  mutterings,  what  disappearances 
into  the  refreshment-room  —  and,  finally,  what  fierce 
jealousy  of  the  schoolmaster  !  Laura  awoke  at  last  to 
the  disagreeable  fact  that  she  had  to  drive  home  with 
him  —  and  he  had  already  made  her  ridiculous.  Even 
Polly  —  the  bedizened  Polly  —  looked  grave,  and 
there  had  been  angry  conferences  between  her  and  her 
brother. 

Then  came  the  departure,  Laura  by  this  time  full 
of  terrors,  but  not  knowing  what  to  do,  nor  how  else 
she  was  to  get  home.  And,  oh!  that  grinning  band 
of  youths  round  the  door  —  Mason's  triumphant  leap 
into  the  cart  and  boisterous  farewells  to  his  friends  — 
and  that  first  perilous  moment,  when  the  pony  had 
almost  backed  into  the  mill  stream,  and  was  only  set 
right  again  by  half  a  dozen  stalwart  arms,  amid  the 
laughter  of  the  street! 

As  for  the  wild  drive  through  the  dark,  she  shivered 
again,  half  with  anger,  half  with  terror,  as  she  thought 
of  it.  How  had  they  ever  got  home  ?  She  could  not 
tell.  He  was  drunk,  of  course.  He  seemed  to  her  to 
have  driven  into  everything  and  over  everything, 
abusing  the  schoolmaster  and  Mr.  Helbeck  and  his 
mother  all  the  time,  and  turning  upon  her  when  she 
answered  him,  or  showed  any  terror  of  what  might 
VOL.  1.  —  y 


226  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

happen  to  them,  now  with  fury,  and  now  with  attempts 
at  love-making  which  it  had  taken  all  her  power  over 
him  to  quell. 

Their  rush  up  the  park  had  been  like  the  ride  of 
the  wild  horseman.  Every  moment  she  had  expected 
to  be  in  the  river.  And  with  the  approach  of  the 
house  he  had  grown  wilder  and  more  unmanageable 
than  before.  ''Dang  it!  let's  wake  up  the  old 
Papist!"  he  had  said  to  her  when  she  had  tried  to 
stop  his  singing.     "What  harm'll  it  do?" 

As  for  the  shame  of  their  arrival,  the  very  thought 
of  Mr.  Helbeck  standing  silent  on  the  steps  as  they 
approached,  of  Hubert's  behaviour,  of  her  host's  man- 
ner to  her  in  the  hall,  made  her  shut  her  eyes  and 
hide  her  red  face  against  Fricka  for  sympathy.  How 
was  she  ever  to  meet  Mr.  Helbeck  again,  to  hold  her 
own  against  him  any  more  ! 

An  hour  later  Laura,  very  carefully  dressed,  and 
holding  herself  very  erect,  entered  Augustina's  room. 

"Oh,  Laura!"  cried  Mrs.  Fountain,  as  the  door 
opened.  She  was  very  flushed,  and  she  stared  from 
her  bed  at  her  stepdaughter  in  an  agitated  silence. 

Laura  stopped  short. 

"Well,  what  is  it,  Augustina?  What  have  you 
heard  ? " 

"  Laura  !  how  can  you  do  such  things ! " 


IIELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  227 

And  Augustina,  who  already  had  lier  breakfast 
beside  her,  raised  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes 
and  began  to  cry.  Laura  threw  up  her  head  and 
walked  away  to  a  far  window,  where  she  turned 
and  confronted  Mrs.  Fountain. 

"Well,  he  has  been  quick  in  telling  you,"  she 
said,  in  a  low  but  fierce  voice. 

"He?  What  do  you  mean?  My  brother?  As 
if  he  had  said  a  word!  I  don't  believe  he  ever 
would.     But  Mrs.  Denton  heard  it  all." 

"Mrs.  Denton?"  said  Laura.  ^' Mrs.  Denton'^ 
What  on  earth  had  she  to  do  with  it?" 

"  She  heard  you  drive  up.  You  know  her  room 
looks  on  the  front." 

"  And  she  listened  ?  sly  old  creature  !  "  said  Laura, 
recovering  herself.  "  Well,  it  can't  be  helped.  If 
she  heard,  she  heard,  and  whatever  I  may  feel, 
I'm  not  going  to  apologise  to  Mrs.  Denton." 

"  But,  Laura  —  Laura  —  was  he " 

Augustina  could  not  finish  the  odious  question. 

"  I  suppose  he  was,"  said  Laura  bitterly.  "  It 
seems  to  be  the  natural  thing  for  young  men  of 
that  sort." 

"Laura,  do  come  here." 

Laura  came  unwillingly,  and  Augustina  took  her 
hands  and  looked  u|)  at  her. 

"And,  Laura,  he  was  abominably  rude  to  Alan!" 


228  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"  Yes,  lie  was,  and  I'm  very  sorry,"  said  the 
girl  slowly.  "  But  it  can't  be  helped,  and  it's  no 
good  making  yourself  miserable,  Angustina." 

''  Miserable  ?  I  ?  It's  you,  Laura,  who  look 
miserable.  I  never  saw  you  look  so  white  and 
dragged.     You  must  never,  never  see  him  again." 

The  girl's  obstinacy  awoke  in  a  moment. 

"  I  don't  know  that  I  shall  promise  that, 
Augustina." 

"  Oh,  Laura !  as  if  you  could  wish  to,"  said 
Augustina,  in  tears. 

"  I  can't  give  up  my  father's  people,"  said  the 
girl  stiffly.  "  But  he  shall  never  annoy  Mr.  Helbeck 
again,  I  promise  you  that,  Augustina." 

"Oh!  you  did  look  so  nice,  Laura,  and  your 
dress  was  so  pretty  !  " 

Laura  laughed,  rather  grimly. 

"  There's  not  much  of  it  left  this  morning,"  she 
said.  "However,  as  one  of  the  gentlemen  who 
kindly  helped  to  ruin  it  said  last  night,  'Lor, 
bless  yer,  it'll  wesh  ! ' " 

After  breakfast  Laura  found  herself  in  the  draw- 
ing-room, looking  through  an  open  window  at  the 
spring  green  in  a  very  strained  and  irritable  mood. 

"I  would  not  begin  if  I  could  not  go  on,"  she 
said  to  herself  with  disdain.     But  her  lip  trembled. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  229 

So  Mr.  Helbeck  had  taken  offence,  after  all. 
Hardly  a  Avord  at  breakfast,  except  such  as  the 
briefest,  barest  civility  required.  And  he  was  going 
aAvay,  it  aj^peared,  for  three  days,  perhaps  a  week, 
on  business.  If  he  had  given  her  the  slightest 
opening,  she  had  meant  to  master  her  pride  suffi- 
ciently to  renew  her  apologies  and  ask  his  advice, 
subject,  of  course,  to  her  own  final  judgment  as  to 
what  kindred  and  kindness  might  require  of  her. 
But  he  had  given  her  no  opening,  and  the  subject 
was  not,  apparently,  to  be  renewed  between  them. 

She  might  have  asked  him,  too,  to  curb  j\Irs. 
Denton's  tongue.  But  no,  it  was  not  to  be.  Very 
well.  The  girl  drew  her  small  frame  together  and 
prepared,  as  no  one  thought  for  or  befriended  her, 
to  think  for  and  befriend  herself. 

She  passed  the  next  few  days  in  some  depression. 
Mr.  Helbeck  was  absent.  Augustina  was  very  ail- 
ing and  querulous,  and  Laura  Avas  made  to  feel  that 
it  was  her  fault.  Not  a  word  of  regret  or  apology 
came  from  Browhead  Farm. 

Meanwhile  Mrs.  Denton  had  apparently  made  her 
niece  understand  that  there  was  to  be  no  more  dally- 
ing with  Miss  Fountain.  Whenever  she  and  Laura 
met,  Ellen  lowered  her  head  and  ran.  Laura  found 
that  the  girl  was  not  allowed  to  wait  upon  her 
personally    any  more.      Meanwhile    the   housekeeper 


230  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

herself  passed  Miss  Fountain  with  a  manner  and  a 
silence  which  were  in  themselves  an  insult. 

And  two  days  after  Helbeck's  departure,  Laura 
was  crossing  the  hall  towards  tea-time,  when  she 
saw  Mrs.  Denton  admitting  one  of  the  Sisters  from 
the  orphanage.  It  was  the  Keverend  Mother  her- 
self, the  portly  shrewd-faced  woman  who  had  wished 
Mr.  Helbeck  a  good  wife.  Laura  passed  her,  and 
the  nun  saluted  her  coldly.  "  Dear  me !  —  you  shall 
have  Augustina  to  yourself,  my  good  friend,"  thought 
Miss  Fountain.  "  Don't  be  afraid."  And  she  turned 
into  the  garden. 

An  hour  later  she  came  back.  As  she  opened 
the  door  in  the  old  wall  she  saw  the  Sister  on  the 
steps,  talking  with  Mrs.  Denton.  At  sight  of  her 
they  parted.  The  nun  drew  her  long  black  cloak 
about  her,  ran  down  the  steps,  and  hurried  away. 

And  indoors,  Laura  could  not  imagine  what  had 
happened  to  her  stepmother.  Augustina  was  clearly 
excited,  yet  she  would  say  nothing.  Her  restless- 
ness was  incessant,  and  at  intervals  there  were 
furtive  tears.  Once  or  twice  she  looked  at  Laura 
with  the  most  tragic  eyes,  but  as  soon  as  Laura 
approached  her  she  would  hastily  bury  herself  in 
her  newspaper,  or  begin  counting  the  stitches  of  her 
knitting. 

At  last,  after   luncheon,  Mrs.  Fountain   suddenly 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  231 

threw  down  her  work  with  a  sigh  that  shook  her 
small  person  from  top  to  toe. 

*'I  wish  I  knew  what  was  wrong  with  you,"  said 
Laura,  coming  up  behind  her,  and  dropping  a  pair 
of  soft  hands  on  her  shoulders.  "  Shall  I  get  you 
your  new  tonic  ?  " 

"  No ! "  said  Augustina  pettishly ;  then,  with  a 
rush  of  words  that  she  could  not  repress  : 

"Laura,  you  must  —  you  positively  must  give  up 
that  young  man." 

Laura  came  round  and  seated  herself  on  the  fender 
stool  in  front  of  her  stepmother. 

"  Oh !  so  that's  it.  Has  anybody  else  been  gos- 
siping ?  " 

"  I  do  wish  you  wouldn't  —  you  wouldn't  take 
things  so  coolly  ! "  cried  Augustina.  "  I  tell  you,  the 
least  trifle  is  enough  to  do  a  young  girl  of  your  age 
harm.     Your  father  would  have  been  so  annoyed." 

"I  don't  think  so,"  said  Laura  quietly.  "But  who 
is  it  now?     The  Reverend  Mother?" 

Augustina  hesitated.  She  had  been  recommended 
to  keep  things  to  herself.  But  she  had  no  will  to 
set  against  Laura's,  and  she  was,  in  fact,  bursting 
with  suppressed  remonstrance. 

"It  doesn't  matter,  my  dear.  One  never  knows 
where  a  story  of  that  kind  will  go  to.  That's  just 
what  girls  don't  remember." 


232  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"Wlio  told  a  story,  and  what?  I  didn't  see  the 
Reverend  Mother  at  the  dance." 

"  Laura  !  But  you  never  thought,  my  dear  —  you 
never  knew  —  that  there  was  a  cousin  of  Father 
Bowles'  there  —  the  man  who  keeps  that  little 
Catholic  shop  in  Market  Street.  That's  what  comes, 
you  see,  of  going  to  parties  with  people  beneath 
you." 

"  Oh !  a  cousin  of  Father  Bowles  was  there  ? " 
said  Laura  slowly.  "Well,  did  he  make  a  pretty 
tale  ?  " 

"Laura!  you  are  the  most  provoking —  You 
don't  the  least  understand  what  people  think.  How 
could  you  go  with  him  when  everybody  remon- 
strated ?  " 

"  Nobody  remonstrated,"  said  the  girl  sharply. 

"  His  sister  begged  you  not  to  go." 

"  His  sister  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  She  was  stay- 
ing the  night  in  the  village,  and  there  was  literally 
nothing  for  me  to  do  but  come  home  with  Hubert  or 
to  throw  myself  on  some  stranger." 

"  And  such  stories  as  one  hears  about  this  dreadful 
young  man ! "  cried  Augustina. 

"I  dare  say.     There  are  always  stories." 

"  I  couldn't  even  tell  you  what  they  are  about ! " 
said  Augustina.  "  Your  father  would  certainly  have 
forbidden  it  altogether." 


BELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  233 

There  was  a  silence.  Laura  held  her  head  as  high 
as  ever.  She  was,  in  fact,  in  a  fever  of  contradiction 
and  resentment,  and  the  interference  of  people  like 
Mrs.  Denton  and  the  Sisters  was  fast  bringing  about 
Mason's  forgiveness.  Naturally,  she  was  likely  to 
hear  the  worst  of  him  in  that  house.  What  Helbeck, 
or  what  dependent  on  a  Helbeck,  would  give  him  the 
benefit  of  any  doubt  ? 

Augustina  knitted  with  all  her  might  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  then  looked  up, 

"  Don't  you  think,"  she  said,  with  a  timid  change 
of  tone  —  "don't  you  think,  dear,  you  might  go  to 
Cambridge  for  a  few  weeks?  I  am  sure  the  Fried- 
lands  would  take  you  in.  You  would  come  in  for 
all  the  parties,  and  —  and  you  needn't  trouble  about 
me.  Sister  Angela's  niece  could  come  and  stay  here 
for  a  few  weeks.     The  Eeverend  Mother  told  me  so." 

Laura  rose, 

"Sister  Angela  suggested  that?  Thank  you,  I 
won't  have  my  plans  settled  for  me  by  Sister  Angela. 
If  you  and  Mr.  Helbeck  want  to  turn  ]ue  out,  why,  of 
course  I  shall  go." 

Augustina  held  out  her  hands  in  terror  at  the  girl's 
attitude  and  voice. 

"  Laura,  don't  say  such  things !  As  if  you  weren't 
an  angel  to  me !  As  if  I  could  bear  the  thought  of 
anybody  else ! " 


2M  ilt^LBlECK  OF  BANmSDALB 

A  quiver  ran  through  Laura's  features.  "Well, 
then,  don't  bear  it,"  she  said,  kneeling  down  again 
beside  her  stepmother.  "  You:  look  quite  ill  and  ex- 
cited, Augustina.  I  think  we'll  keep  the  Keverend 
Mother  out  in  future.  AVon't  you  lie  down  and  let 
me  cover  you  up  ?  " 

So  it  ended  for  the  time  —  with  physical  weakness 
on  Augustina's  part,  and  caresses  on  Laura's. 

But  when  she  was  alone,  Miss  Fountain  sat  down 
and  tried  to  think  things  out. 

"What  are  the  Sisters  meddling  for?  Do  they  find 
me  in  their  way  ?  I'm  flattered !  I  wish  I  was. 
Well! — is  drunkenness  the  worst  thing  in  the  world?" 
she  asked  herself  deliberately.  "  Of  course,  if  it  goes 
beyond  a  certain  point  it  is  like  madness  —  you  must 
keep  out  of  its  way,  for  your  own  sake.  But  papa 
used  to  say  there  were  many  things  a  great  deal 
worse.  So  there  are  !  —  meanness,  and  shuffling  with 
truth  for  the  sake  of  your  soul.  As  for  the  other 
tales,  I  don't  believe  them.  But  if  I  did,  I  am  not 
going  to  marry  him  !  " 

She  felt  herself  very  wise.  In  truth,  as  Stephen 
Fountain  had  realised  with  some  anxiety  before  his 
death,  among  Laura's  many  ignorances,  none  was  so 
complete  or  so  dangerous  as  her  ignorance  of  all  the 
ugly  ground  facts  tliat  are  strewn  round  us,  for  the 
stumbling  of  mankind.     She  was  as  determined  not 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  235 

to  know  them,  as  lie  was  invincibly  shy  of  telling 
them. 

For  the  rest,  her  reflections  represented,  no  doubt, 
many  dicta  that  in  the  course  of  her  young  life  she 
had  heard  from  her  father.  To  Stephen  Fountain 
the  whole  Christian  doctrine  of  sin  was  "the- enemy  "  ; 
and  the  mystical  hatred  of  certain  actions  and  habits, 
as  such,  was  the  fount  of  half  the  world's  unreason. 

The  following  day  it  was  Father  Bowles'  turn. 
He  came  over  in  what  seemed  to  be  his  softest  and 
most  catlike  mood,  rubbing  his  hands  over  his  chest 
in  a  constant  glee  at  his  own  jokes.  He  was  amia- 
bility itself  to  Laura.  But  he,  too,  had  his  twenty 
minutes  alone  with  Augustina ;  and  afterwards  Mrs. 
Fountain  ventured  once  more  to  speak  to  Laura  of 
change  and  amusement.  Miss  Fountain  smiled, 
and  replied  as  before  —  that,  in  the  first  place, 
she  had  no  invitations,  and  in  the  next,  she  had 
no  dresses.  But  again,  as  before,  if  Mr.  Helbeck 
should  express  a  wish  that  her  visit  to  Bannisdale 
should  come  to  an  end,  that  would  be  another 
matter. 

Xext  morning  Laura  was  taking  a  walk  in  the  park, 
when  a  letter  was  brought  to  her  by  old  Wilson,  the 
groom,  cowman,  and  general  factotum. 

She  took  it  to  a  sheltered  nook  by  the  riverside  and 


230  llELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

read   it.      It   was   from   Hubert   Mason,  in   his   best 
commercial  hand,  and  it  ran  as  follows : 

"  Dear  Miss  Fountain, —  You  would  not  allow  me, 
I  know,  to  call  you  Cousin  Laura  any  more,  so  I  don't 
attempt  it.  And  of  course  I  don't  deserve  it  —  nor 
that  you  should  ever  shake  hands  with  me  again.  I 
can't  get  over  thinking  of  what  I've  done.  Mother  and 
Polly  will  tell  you  that  I  have  hardly  slept  at  nights  — 
for  of  course  you  won't  believe  me.  How  I  can  have 
been  such  a  blackguard  I  don't  understand.  I  must 
have  taken  too  much.  All  I  know  is  it  didn't  seem 
much,  and  but  for  the  agitation  of  my  mind,  I  don't 
believe  anything  would  ever  have  gone  wrong.  But 
I  couldn't  bear  to  see  you  dancing  with  that  man  and 
despising  me.  And  there  it  is  —  I  can  never  get  over 
it,  and  you  will  never  forgive  me.  I  feel  I  can't  stay 
here  any  more,  and  mother  has  consented  at  last  to 
let  me  have  some  money  on  the  farm.  If  I  could 
just  see  you  before  I  go,  to  say  good-bye,  and  ask  your 
pardon,  there  would  be  a  better  chance  for  me.  I 
can't  come  to  Mr.  Helbeck's  house,  of  course,  and  I 
don't  suppose  you  would  come  here.  I  shall  be  com- 
ing home  from  Kirby  Whardale  fair  to-morrow  night, 
and  shall  be  crossing  the  little  bridge  in  the  park  — 
upper  end  —  some  time  between  eight  and  nine.  But 
I  know  you  won't  be  there.     I  can't  expect  it,  and  I 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  237 

feel  it   pretty  badly,  I  can   tell  you.     I  did  hope  I 
might  have  become  something  better  through  know- 
ing you.    Whatever  you  may  think  of  me  I  am  always 
''  Your  respectful  and  humble  cousin, 

"HuBEKT  Mason." 

"Well  —  upon  my  word  !  "  said  Laura.  She  threw 
the  letter  on  to  the  grass  beside  her,  and  sat,  with 
her  hands  round  her  knees,  staring  at  the  river,  in  a 
sparkle  of  anger  and  amazement. 

What  audacity  !  —  to  expect  her  to  steal  out  at 
night  —  in  the  dusk,  anyway — to  meet  him  —  Mm! 
She  fed  her  wrath  on  the  imagination  of  all  the  details 
that  would  belong  to  such  an  escapade.  It  would  be 
after  supper,  of  course,  in  the  fast  lengthening  twi- 
light. Helbeck  and  his  sister  would  be  in  the  draw- 
ing-room —  for  Mr.  Helbeck  was  expected  home  on 
the  following  day  —  and  she  might  perfectly  well 
leave  them,  as  she  often  did,  to  talk  their  little 
Catholic  gossip  by  themselves,  and  then  slip  out  by 
the  chapel  passage  and  door,  through  the  old  garden, 
to  the  gate  in  the  wall  above  the  river  bank,  and  so  to 
the  road  that  led  along  the  Greet  through  the  upper 
end  of  the  park.  Nothing,  of  course,  could  be  easier 
—  nothing. 

Merely  to  think  of  it,  for  a  girl  of  Laura's  tempera- 
ment, was  already  bit  by  bit  to  incline  to  it.     She 


238  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

began  to  turn  it  over,  to  taste  the  adventure  of  it  —  to 
talk  very  fast  to  Fricka,  under  her  breath,  with  little 
gusts  of  laughter.  And  no  doubt  there  was  something 
mollifying  in  the  boy's  humble  expressions.  As  for 
his  sleepless  nights  —  how  salutary  !  how  very  salu- 
tary !  Only  the  nail  must  be  driven  in  deeper  — 
must  be  turned  in  the  wound. 

It  would  need  a  vast  amount  of  severity,  perhaps, 
to  undo  the  effects  of  her  mere  obedience  to  his  call  — 
supposing  she  made  up  her  mind  to  obey  it.  Well ! 
she  would  be  quite  equal  to  severity.  She  would 
speak  very  plain  things  to  him  —  very  x)lain  things 
indeed.  It  was  her  first  serious  adventure  with  any 
of  these  big,  foolish,  troublesome  creatures  of  the 
male  sex,  and  she  rose  to  it  much  as  Helbeck  might 
have  risen  to  the  playing  of  a  salmon  in  the  Greet. 
Yes!  he  should  say  good-bye  to  her,  let  priests  and 
nuns  talk  what  scandal  they  pleased.  Yes !  he  should 
go  on  his  way  forgiven  and  admonished  —  if  he  wished 
it  —  for  kindred's  sake. 

Her  cheek  burned,  her  heart  beat  fast.  He  and 
she  were  of  one  blood  —  both  of  them  ill-regarded  by 
aristocrats  and  holy  Romans.  As  for  him,  he  was 
going  to  ruin  at  home;  and  there  was  in  him  this 
strange,  artistic  gift  to  be  thought  for  and  rescued. 
He  had  all  the  faults  of  the  young  cub.  Was  he  to 
be  wholly  disowned  for  that  ?     Was  she  to  cast  him 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  239 

off  for  ever  at  the  mere  bidding  of  the  Helbecks  and 
their  friends  ? 

He  would  never,  of  course,  be  allowed  to  enter  the 
Bannisdale  drawing-room,  and  she  had  no  intention 
at  present  of  going  to  Browhead  Farm.  Well,  then, 
under  the  skies  and  the  clouds !  A  gracious  pardon, 
an  appropriate  lecture  —  and  a  short  farewell. 

All  that  day  and  the  next  Laura  gave  herself  to  her 
whim.  She  was  perfectly  conscious,  meanwhile,  that 
it  was  a  reckless  and  a  wilful  thing  that  she  was 
planning.  She  liked  it  none  the  less  for  that.  In 
fact,  the  scheme  was  the  final  crystallisation  of  all 
that  bitterness  of  mood  that  had  poisoned  and  tor- 
mented her  ever  since  her  first  coming  to  Bannisdale. 
And  it  gave  her  for  the  moment  the  morbid  pleasure 
that  all  angry  people  get  from  letting  loose  the  angry 
word  or  act. 

Meanwhile  she  became  more  and  more  conscious  of 
a  certain  network  of  blame  and  discussion  that  seemed 
to  be  closing  about  her  and  her  actions.  It  showed 
itself  by  a  number  of  small  signs.  When  she  went 
into  Whinthorpe  to  shop  for  Augustina  she  fancied 
that  the  assistants  in  the  shop,  and  even  the  portly 
draper  himself,  looked  at  her  with  a  sly  curiosity. 
The  girl's  sore  prid-e  grew  more  unmanageable  hour 
by  hour.     If  there  was  some  ill-natured  gossip  about 


240  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

her,  going  the  round  in  the  town  and  neighbourhood, 
had  she  —  till  now — given  the  least  shadow  of  ex- 
cuse for  it  ?     Not  the  least  shade  of  a  shadow ! 

Mr.  Helbeck,  his  sister,  and  Laura  were  in  the 
drawing-room  after  supper.  Laura  had  been  observ- 
ing INrrs.  Fountain  closely. 

"She  is  longing  to  have  her  talk  with  him,"  thought 
the  girl;  "and  she  shall  have  it  —  as  much  as  she 
likes." 

The  shutters  were  not  yet  closed,  and  the  room, 
with  its  crackling  logs,  was  filled  with  a  gentle 
mingled  light.  The  sun,  indeed,  was  gone,  but  the 
west  still  glowed,  and  the  tall  larches  in  the  front 
enclosure  stood  black  against  a  golden  dome  of  sky. 
Laura  rose  and  left  the  room.  As  she  opened  the 
door  she  caught  Augustina's  quick  look  of  relief  and 
the  drop  of  the  knitting-needles. 

Fricka  was  safely  prisoned  upstairs.  Laura  slipped 
on  a  hat  and  a  dark  cloak  that  were  hanging  in  the 
hall,  and  ran  down  the  passage  leading  to  the  chapel. 
The  heavy  seventeenth-century  door  at  the  end  of 
it  took  her  some  trouble  to  open  without  noise,  but 
it  was  done  at  last,  and  she  was  in  the  old  garden. 

Her  little  figure  in  its  cloak,  among  the  dark  yews, 
was  hardly  to  be  seen  in  the  dusk.  The  garden  was 
silence    itself,  and   the   gate  in   the    wall    was    open. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  241 

Once  on  the  road  beside  the  river  she  coidd  hardly 
restrain  herself  from  running,  so  keen  was  the  air, 
so  free  and  wide  the  evening  solitude.  All  things 
were  at  peace ;  nothing  moved  but  a  few  birds  and  the 
tiniest  intermittent  breeze.  Overhead,  great  thunder- 
clouds kept  the  sunset;  beneath,  the  blues  of  the 
evening  were  all  interwoven  with  rose ;  so,  too,  were 
the  wood  and  sky  reflections  in  the  gently  moving 
water.  In  some  of  the  pools  the  trout  were  still 
lazily  rising ;  pigeons  and  homing  rooks  were  slowly 
passing  through  the  clear  space  that  lay  between  the 
tree-tops  and  the  just  emerging  stars ;  and  once 
Laura  stopped,  holding  her  breath,  thinking  that 
she  saw  through  the  dusk  the  blue  flash  of  a  king- 
fisher making  for  a  nest  she  knew.  Even  in  this 
dimmed  light  the  trees  had  the  May  magnificence  — 
all  but  the  oaks,  which  still  dreamed  of  a  best  to 
Some.  Here  and  there  a  few  tufts  of  primroses,  on 
the  bosom  of  the  crag  above  the  river,  lonely  and 
self-sufficing,  like  all  loveliest  things,  starred  the 
dimness  of  the  rock. 

Laura's  feet  danced  beneath  her ;  the  evening 
beauty  and  her  passionate  response  flowed  as  it 
were  into  each  other,  made  one  beating  pulse ;  never, 
in  spite  of  qualms  and  angers,  had  she  been  more 
physically  happy,  more  alive.  She  passed  the  seat 
where  she  and  Helbeck  had  lingered  ou  Easter  Suu- 

VOL.   I.  —  K 


242  IlELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

day ;  then  she  struck  .into  a  path  high  above  the 
river,  under  spreading  oaks ;  and  presently  a  little 
bridge  came  in  sight,  with  some  steps  in  the  crag 
leading  down  to  it. 

At  the  near  end  of  the  bridge,  thrown  out  into 
the  river  a  little  way  for  the  convenience  of  fisher- 
men, Avas  a  small  wooden  platform,  with  a  railing, 
which  held  a  seat.  The  seat  was  well  hidden  under 
the  trees  and  bank,  and  Laura  settled  herself  there. 

She  had  hardly  waited  five  minutes,  absorbed  in 
the  sheer  pleasure  of  the  rippling  river  and  the  soft 
air,  when  she  heard  steps  approaching  the  bank. 
Looking  up,  she  saw  Mason's  figure  against  the  sky. 
He  paused  at  the  top  of  the  rocky  staircase,  to  scan 
the  bridge  and  its  approaches.  Not  seeing  her,  he 
threw  up  his  hand,  with  some  exclamation  that  she 
could  not  hear. 

She  smiled  and  rose. 

As  her  small  form  became  visible  between  the 
paleness  of  the  wooden  platform  and  a  luminous 
patch  in  the  river,  she  heard  a  cry,  then  a  hurrying 
down  the  rock  steps. 

He  stopped  about  a  yard  from  her.  She  did  not 
offer  her  hand,  and  after  an  instant's  pause,  during 
which  his  eyes  tried  to  search  her  face  in  the  dark- 
ness, he  took  off  his  hat  and  drew  his  hand  across 
his  brow  with  a  deep  breath, 


HELBECK  OF  BANXISDALE  243 

"I  never  thought  you'd  come,"  he  said  huskily. 

"  Well,  certainly  you  had  no  business  to  ask  me  ! 
And  I  can  only  stay  a  very  few  minutes.  Suppose 
you  sit  down  there." 

She  pointed  to  one  of  the  rock  steps,  while  she 
settled  herself  again  on  the  seat,  some  little  dis- 
tance away  from  him. 

Then  there  was  an  awkward  silence,  which  Laura 
took  no  trouble  to  break.  Mason  broke  it  at  last  in 
desperation. 

"  You  know  that  I'm  an  awful  hand  at  saying  any- 
thing, Miss  —  Miss  Fountain.  I  can't  —  so  it's  no 
good.  But  I've  got  my  lesson.  I've  had  a  pretty 
rough  time  of  it,  I  can  tell  you,  since  last  week." 

"You  behaved  about  as  badly  as  you  could  — 
didn't  you?"  said  Laura's  soft  yet  cutting  voice 
out  of  the  dark. 

Mason  fidgeted. 

"I  can't  make  it  no  better,"  he  said  at  last. 
'•  There's  no  saying  I  can,  for  I  can't.  And  if  I  did 
give  you  excuses,  you'd  not  believe  'em.  There  was 
a  devil  got  hold  of  me  that  evening  —  that's  the  truth 
on't.  And  it  was  only  a  glass  or  two  I  took.  Well, 
there  !  —  I'd  have  cut  my  hand  off  sooner." 

His  tone  of  miserable  humility  began  to  affect  her 
rather  strangely.  It  was  not  so  easy  to  drive  in  the 
nail. 


244  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"You  needn't  be  so  repentant,"  she  said,  with  a 
little  shrinking  laugh.  "One  has  to  forget  —  every- 
thing—  in  good  time.  You've  given  Whinthorpe 
people  something  to  talk  about  at  my  expense  —  for 
which  I  am  not  at  all  obliged  to  you.  You  nearly 
killed  me,  which  doesn't  matter.  And  you  behaved 
disgracefully  to  Mr.  Helbeck.  But  it's  done  —  and 
now  you've  got  to  make  up  —  somehow." 

"Has  he  made  you  pay  for  it  —  since?"  said 
Mason  eagerly. 

"  He  ?  Mr.  Helbeck  ?  "  She  laughed.  Then  she 
added,  with  all  the  severity  she  could  muster,  "He 
treated  me  in  a  most  kind  and  gentlemanly  way  —  if 
you  want  to  know.  The  great  pity  is  that  you  —  and 
Cousin  Elizabeth  —  understand  nothing  at  all  about 
him." 

He  groaned.  She  could  hear  his  feet  restlessly 
moving. 

"  Well  —  and  now  you  are  going  to  Froswick,"  she 
resumed.     "  What  are  you  going  to  do  there  ?  " 

"  There's  an  uncle  of  mine  in  one  of  the  shipbuild- 
ing yards  there.  He's  got  leave  to  take  me  into  the 
fitting  department.  If  I  suit  he'll  get  me  into  the 
office.     It's  what  I've  wanted  this  two  years." 

"Well,  now  you've  got  it,"  she  said  impatiently, 
"don't  be  dismal.     You  have  your  chance." 

"  Yes,  and  I  don't  care  a  haporth  about  it,"  he  said. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  245 

with  sudden  energy,  throwing  his  head  np  and  Ining- 
ing  his  fist  down  on  his  knee. 

She  felt  her  power,  and  liked  it.  But  she  hurried 
to  answer : 

"  Oh !  yes  you  do !  If  you're  a  man,  you  must. 
You'll  learn  a  lot  of  new  things  —  you'll  keep 
straight,  because  you'll  have  plenty  to  do.  Why,  it 
will  '  hatch  you  over  again,  and  hatch  you  different,' 
as  somebody  said.     You'll  see." 

He  looked  at  her,  trying  hard  to  catch  her  expres- 
sion in  the  dusk. 

"  And  if  I  do  come  back  different,  perhaps  —  per- 
haps —  soom  day  you'll  not  be  ashamed  to  be  seen  wi' 
me  ?  Look  here,  Miss  Laura.  From  the  first  time 
I  set  eyes  on  you  —  from  that  day  you  came  up  — 
that  Sunday — I  haven't  been  able  to  settle  to  a  thing. 
I  felt,  right  enough,  I  wasn't  fit  to  speak  to  you.  And 
yet  I'm  your  —  well,  your  kith  and  kin,  doan't  you 
see  ?  There  can't  be  no  such  tremendous  gap  atween 
us  as  all  that.  If  I  can  just  manage  myself  a  bit,  and 
find  the  work  that  suits  me,  and  get  away  from  these 
fellows  here,  and  this  beastly  farm " 

"  Ah !  —  have  you  been  quarrelling  with  Daffady 
all  day  ?  " 

She  looked  for  him  to  fly  out.  But  he  only  stared, 
and  then  turned  away. 

*'  O  Lord !  what's  the  good  of  talking  ?  "  he  said, 
with  an  accent  that  startled  licr. 


246  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

She  rose  from  her  seat. 

"  Are  you  sorry  I  came  to  talk  to  you  ?  You  didn't 
deserve  it  —  did  you  ?  " 

Her  voice  was  the  pearliest,  most  musical,  and  yet 
most  distant  of  things.     He  rose,  too  —  held  by  it. 

"  And  now  you  must  just  go  and  make  a  man  of 
yourself.  That's  what  you  have  to  do  —  you  see  ? 
I  wish  papa  was  alive.  He'd  tell  you  how  —  I 
can't.  But  if  you  forget  your  music,  it'll  be  a  sin 
—  and  if  you  send  me  your  song  to  write  out  for 
you,  I'll  do  it.  And  'tell  Polly  I'll  come  and  see 
her  again  some  day.  Now  good-night !  They'll  be 
locking  up  if  I  don't  hurry  home." 

But  he  stood  on  the  step,  barring  the  way. 

"'  I  say,  give  me  something  to  take  with  me,"  he 
said  hoarsely.     "  What's  that  in  your  hat  ?  " 

"In  my  hat?"  she  said,  laughing — (but  if  there 
had  been  light  he  would  have  seen  that  her  lips 
had  paled).  "Why,  a  bunch  of  buttercups.  I 
bought  them  at  Whinthorpe  yesterday." 

"Give  me  one,"  he  said. 

"  Give  you  a  sham  buttercup  ?     What  nonsense  ! " 

"It's  better  than  nothing,"  he  said  doggedly,  and 
he  held  out  his  hand. 

She  hesitated;  then  she  took  off  her  hat  and 
quietly  loosened  one  of  the  flowers.  Her  golden 
hair  shone  in  the  dimness.     Mason  never   took  his 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  247 

eyes  off  her  little  head.  He  was  keeping  a  grip 
on  himself  that  was  taxing  a  whole  new  set  of 
powers  —  straining  the  lad's  unripe  nature  in  wholly 
new  ways. 

She  put  the  flower  in  his  hand. 

"  There ;  now  we're  friends  again,  aren't  we  ? 
Let  me  pass,  please  —  and  good-night!" 

He  moved  to  one  side,  blindly  fighting  with  the 
impulse  to  throw  his  powerful  arms  round  her  and 
keep  her  there,  or  carry  her  across  the  bridge  — 
at  his  pleasure. 

But  her  light  fearlessness  mastered  him.  He  let 
her  go;  he  watched  her  figure  on  the  steps,  against 
the  moonlight  between  the  oaks  overhead. 

"  Good-night ! "  she  dropped  again,  already  far 
away  ^  far  above  him. 

The  young  man  felt  a  sob  in  his  throat. 

"  My  God !  I  shan't  ever  see  her  again,"  he  said 
to  himself  in  a  sudden  terror.  "She  is  going  to 
that  house  —  to  that  man!" 

For  the  first  time  a  wild  jealousy  of  Helbeck  awoke 
in  him.  He  rushed  across  the  bridge,  dropped  on  a 
stone  half-way  up  the  further  bank,  then  strained  his 
eyes  across  the  river. 

.  .  .  Yes,  there  she  passed,  a  swift  moving  white- 
ness, among  the  great  trees  that  stood  like  watch- 
men along  the  high  edge  of  the  water.     Below  him 


248  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

flowed  the  stream,  a  gulf  of  darkness,  rent  here  and 
there  by  sheets  and  jags  of  silver.  And  she,  that 
pale  wraith  —  across  it  —  far  away  —  was  flitting 
from  his  ken. 

All  the  fountains  of  the  youth's  nature  surged 
up  in  one  great  outcry  and  confusion.  He  thought 
of  his  boyish  loves  and  sensualities  —  of  the  girls 
who  had  provoked  them  —  of  some  of  the  ugly  facts 
connected  with  them.  A  great  astonishment,  a  great 
sickening,  came  upon  him.  He  felt  the  burden  of 
the  flesh,  the  struggle  of  the  spirit.  And  through 
it  all,  the  maddest  and  most  covetous  yearning !  — 
welling  up  through  schemes  and  hopes,  that  like 
the  moonlit  ripples  on  the  Greet,  dissolved  as  fast 
as  they  took  shape. 

Meanwhile  Laura  went  quickly  home.  A  new 
tenderness,  a  new  remorse  towards  the  "cub"  was 
in  the  girl's  mind.  Ought  she  to  have  gone  ?  Had 
she  been  kind  ?  Oh !  she  would  be  his  friend  and 
good  angel  —  without  any  nonsense,  of  course. 

She  hurried  through  the  trees  and  along  the 
dimly  gleaming  path.  Suddenly  she  perceived  in 
the  distance  the  sparkle  of  a  lantern. 

How  vexatious !  Was  there  no  escape  for  her  ? 
She  looked  in  some  trouble  at  the  climbing  woods 
above,  at  the  steep  bank  below. 


IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  249 

Ah !  well,  lier  hat  was  large,  and  hid  her  face. 
And  her  dress  was  all  covered  by  her  cloak.  She 
hastened  on. 

It  was  a  man  —  an  old  man  —  carrying  a  bundle 
and  a  lantern.  He  seemed  to  Avaver  and  stop  as  she 
approached  him,  and  at  the  actual  moment  of  her 
passing  him,  to  her  amazement,  he  suddenly  threw 
himself  against  one  of  the  trees  on  the  mountain  side 
of  the  path,  and  his  lantern  showed  her  his  face  for 
an  instant  —  a  white  face,  stricken  with  —  fear,  was 
it  ?  or  what  ? 

Fright  gained  upon  herself.  She  ran  on,  and  as 
she  ran  it  seemed  to  her  that  she  heard  something 
fall  with  a  clang,  and,  afterwards,  a  cry.  She  looked 
back.  The  old  man  was  still  there,  erect,  but  his 
light  was  gone. 

Well,  no  doubt  he  had  dropped  his  lantern.  Let 
him  light  it  again.     It  was  no  concern  of  hers. 

Here  was  the  door  in  the  Avail.  It  opened  to  her 
touch.  She  glided  in  —  across  the  garden  —  found 
the  chapel  door  ajar,  and  in  a  few  more  seconds  was 
safe  in  her  own  room. 


CHAPTER   III 

Laura  was  standing  before  lier  looking-glass 
straightening  the  curls  that  her  rapid  walk  had  dis- 
arranged, when  her  attention  was  caught  by  certain 
unusual  sounds  in  the  house.  There  was  a  hurrying 
of  distant  feet  —  calls,  as  though  from  the  kitchen 
region  —  and  lastly,  the  deep  voice  of  Mr.  Helbeck. 
Miss  Fountain  paused,  brush  in  hand,  wondering 
what  had  happened. 

A  noise  of  fluttering  skirts,  and  a  cry  for  "  Laura ! " 
— Miss  Fountain  opened  her  door,  and  saw  Augustina, 
who  never  ran,  hurrying  as  fast  as  her  feebleness 
would  let  her,  towards  her  stepdaughter. 

"Laura! — where  is  my  sal  volatile?  You  gave 
me  some  yesterday,  you  remember,  for  my  headache. 
There's  somebody  ill,  downstairs." 

She  paused  for  breath. 

"  Here  it  is,"  said  Laura,  finding  the  bottle,  and 
bringing  it.     "  What's  wrong  ?  " 

"  Oh,  my  dear,  such  an  adventure  !  There's  an  old 
man  fainted  in  the  kitchen.  He  came  to  the  back 
door  to  ask  for  a  light  for  his  lantern.     Mrs.  Denton 

250 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  251 

saj's  he  was  shaking  all  over  when  she  first  saw  him, 
and  as  white  as  her  apron.  He  told  her  he'd  seen 
the  ghost !  '  I've  often  heard  tell  o'  the  Bannisdale 
Lady,'  he  said,  '  an  now  I've  seen  her  ! '  She  asked 
him  to  sit  down  a  minute  to  rest  himself,  and  he 
fainted  straight  away.  He's  that  old  Scarsbrook,  you 
know,  whose  wife  does  our  washing.  They  live  in 
that  cottage  by  the  weir,  the  other  end  of  the  park. 
I  must  go !  Mrs.  Denton's  giving  him  some  brandy 
—  and  Alan's  gone  down.  Isn't  it  an  extraordinary 
thing  ?  " 

"  Very,"  said  Laura,  accompanying  her  stepmother 
along  the  passage.     "  What  did  he  see  ?  " 

She  paused,  laying  a  restraining  hand  on  Augus- 
tina's  arm  —  cudgelling  her  brains  the  while.  Yes! 
she  could  remember  now  a  few  contemptuous  remarks 
of  Mr.  Helbeck  to  Father  Leadham  on  the  subject  of 
a  ghost  story  that  had  sprung  up  during  the  Squire's 
memory  in  connection  with  the  park  and  the  house  — 
a  quite  modern  story,  according  to  Helbeck,  turning 
on  the  common  motive  of  a  gypsy  woman  and  her 
curse,  started  some  forty  years  before  this  date,  with 
a  local  success  not  a  little  offensive,  apparently,  to 
the  owner  of  Bannisdale. 

''  What  did  he  see  ?  "  repeated  the  girl.  "  Don't 
hurry,  Augustina;  you  know  the  doctor  told  you  not. 
Shall  I  take  the  sal  volatile  ?  " 


252  IIELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

"Oh,  no!  — they  want  me."  In  any  matter  of 
doctormg  small  or  great,  Augustina  had  the  happiest 
sense  of  her  own  importance.  ''I  don't  know  what 
he  saw  exactly.  It  was  a  lady,  he  says  —  he  knew  it 
was,  by  the  hat  and  the  walk.     She  was  all  in  black 

—  with  '  a  Dolly  Varden  hat '  —fancy  the  old  fellow ! 

—  that  hid  her  face  —  and  a  little  white  hand,  that 
shot  out  sparks  as  he  came  up  to  her !  Did  you  ever 
hear  such  a  tale?  Now,  Laura,  I'm  all  right.  Let 
me  go.     Come  when  you  like." 

Augustina  hurried  off;  Laura  was  left  standing 
pensive  in  the  passage. 

"  H'm,  that's  unlucky,"  she  said  to  herself. 

Then  she  looked  down  at  her  right  hand.  An  old- 
fashioned  diamond  ring  with  a  large  centre  stone, 
which  had  been  her  mother's,  shone  on  the  third 
finger.  With  an  involuntary  smile,  she  drew  off  the 
ring,  and  went  back  to  her  room. 

"What's  to  be  done  now?"  she  thought,  as  she 
put  the  ring  in  a  drawer.  "  Shall  T  go  down  and  ex- 
plain —  say  I  was  out  for  a  stroll  ?  "  —  She  shook  her 
head.  —  "Won't  do  now  —  I  should  have  had  more 
presence  of  mind  a  minute  ago.  Augustina  would 
suspect  a  hundred  things.  It's  really  dramatic. 
Shall  I  go  down  ?  He  didn't  see  my  face  —  no,  that 
I'll  answer  for  !     Here's  for  it !  " 

She  pulled  out  the  golden  mass  of  her  hair  till  it 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  253 

made  a  denser  frame    than  usual   round   lier   brow, 
looked  at  her  white  dress — shook  her  head  dubiously 

—  laughed  at  her  own  flushed  face  in  the  glass,  and 
calmly  went  downstairs. 

She  found  an  anxious  group  in  the  great  bare 
servants'  hall.  The  old  man,  supported  by  pillows, 
was  stretched  on  a  wooden  settle,  with  Helbeck, 
Augustina,  and  Mrs.  Denton  standing  by.  The  first 
things  she  saw  Avere  the  old  peasant's  closed  eyes  and 
pallid  face  —  then  Helbeck's  grave  and  puzzled 
countenance  above  him.  The  Squire  turned  at  Miss 
Fountain's  step.  Did  she  imagine  it  —  or  was  there 
a  peculiar  sharpness  in  his  swift  glance  ? 

Mrs.  Denton  had  just  been  administering  a  second 
dose  of  brandy,  and  was  apparently  in  the  midst  of 
her  own  report  to  her  master  of  Scarsbrook's  story. 

"'I  wor  just  aboot  to  pass  her,'  he  said,  'when  I 
nawticed  'at  her  feet  made  noa  noise.  She  keam 
glidin  —  an  glidin  —  an  my  hair  stood  reet  oop  —  it 
lifted  t'whole  top  o'  my  yed.  An  she  gaed  passt  me 
like  a  puff  o'  wind  —  as  cauld  as  ice  —  an  I  wor  mair 
deed  nor  alive.  An  I  hiked  afther  her,  an  she  vanisht 
i'  th'  varra  middle  o'  t'  path.     An  my  leet  went  oot 

—  an  I  durstn't  ha  gane  on,  if  it  wor  iver  so  —  so  I 
juist  crawled  back  tet  hoose ' " 

"  The  door  in  the  wall !  "  thought  Laura.  "  He 
didn't  know  it  was  there." 


254  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

She  had  remained  in  the  background  while  Mrs. 
Denton  was  speaking,  but  now  she  approached  the 
settle.  Mrs.  Denton  threw  a  sour  look  at  her,  and 
flounced  out  of  her  way.  Helbeck  silently  made 
room  for  her.  As  she  passed  him,  she  felt  instinc- 
tively that  his  distant  politeness  had  become  some- 
thing more  pronounced.  He  left  her  questions  to 
Augustina  to  answer,  and  himself  thrust  his  hands 
into  his  pockets  and  moved  away. 

"  Have  you  sent  for  anyone  ?  "  said  Laura  to  Mrs. 
Fountain. 

"  Yes.  Wilson's  gone  in  the  pony  cart  for  the  wife. 
And  if  he  doesn't  come  round  by  the  time  she  gets 
here  — some  one  will  have  to  go  for  the  doctor, 
Alan  ?  " 

She  looked  round  vaguely. 

"Of  course.  Wilson  must  go  on,"  said  Helbeck 
from  the  distance.     "Or  I'll  go  myself." 

"  But  he  is  coming  round,"  said  Laura,  pointing. 

"  If  yo'll  nobbut  move  oot  o'  t'  way.  Miss,  we'll  be 
able  to  get  at  'im,"  said  Mrs.  Denton  sharply.  Laura 
hastily  obeyed  her.  The  housekeeper  brought  more 
brandy ;  then  signs  of  returning  force  grew  stronger, 
and  by  the  time  the  wife  appeared  the  old  fellow  was 
feebly  beginning  to  move  and  look  about  him. 

Amid  the  torrent  of  lamentations,  questions,  and 
hypotheses   that  the  wife  poured  forth,  Laura  with- 


HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE  255 

drew  into  the  background.  But  she  could  not  prevail 
on  herself  to  go.  Daring  or  excitement  held  her 
there,  till  the  old  man  should  be  quite  himself 
again. 

He  struggled  to  his  feet  at  last,  and  said,  with  a 
long  sigh  that  was  still  half  a  shudder,  "Aye — noo 
I'll  goa  home  —  Lisbeth." 

He  was  a  piteous  spectacle  as  he  stood  there,  still 
trembling  through  all  his  stunted  frame,  his  wrinkled 
face  drawn  and  bloodless,  his  grey  hair  in  a  tragic 
confusion.  Suddenly,  as  he  looked  at  his  wife,  he 
said  with  a  clear  solemnity,  "Lisbeth — I  ha'  got  my 
death  warrant ! " 

"  Don't  say  any  such  thing,  Scarsbrook,"  said  Hel- 
beck,  coming  forward  to  support  him.  "  You  know  I 
don't  believe  in  this  ghost  business  —  and  never  did. 
You  saw  some  stranger  in  the  park  —  and  she  passed 
you  too  quickly  for  you  to  see  where  she  went  to. 
You  may  be  sure  that'll  turn  out  to  be  the  truth.  You 
remember  —  it's  a  public  path  —  anybody  might  be 
there.  Just  try  and  take  that  view  of  it  —  and  don't 
fret,  for  your  wife's  sake.  We'll  make  inquiries,  and 
I'll  come  and  see  you  to-morrow.  And  as  for  death 
warrants,  we're  all  in  God's  care,  you  know  —  don't 
forget  that." 

He  smiled  with  a  kindly  concern  and  pity  on  the 
old  man.     But  Scarsbrook  shook  his  head. 


256  UELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

"  It  wur  t'  Bannisdale  Lady,"  he  repeated ;  "  I've 
often  lieerd  on  her  —  often  —  and  noo  I've  seen  her." 

"  Well,  to-morrow  you'll  be  quite  proud  of  it,"  said 
Helbeck  cheerfully.  "  Come,  and  let  me  put  you  into 
the  cart.  I  think,  if  we  make  a  comfortable  seat  for 
you,  you'll  be  fit  to  drive  home  now." 

Supported  by  the  Squire's  strong  arm  on  one  side, 
and  his  wife  on  the  other,  Scarsbrook  managed  to 
hobble  down  the  long  passage  leading  to  the  door  in 
the  inner  courtyard,  where  the  pony  cart  was  stand- 
ing. It  was  evident  that  his  perceptions  were  still 
wholly  dazed.  He  had  not  recognised  or  spoken  to 
anyone  in  the  room  but  the  Squire  —  not  even  to  his 
old  crony  Mrs.  Denton. 

Laura  drew  a  long  breath. 

"Augustina,  do  go  to  bed,"  she  said,  going  up  to 
her  stepmother  —  "  or  you'll  be  ill  next." 

Augustina  allowed  herself  to  be  led  upstairs.  But 
it  was  long  before  she  would  let  her  stepdaughter 
leave  her.  She  was  full  of  supernatural  terrors  and 
excitements,  and  must  talk  about  all  the  former 
appearances  of  the  ghost  —  the  stories  that  used  to  be 
told  in  her  childhood  —  the  ncAv  or  startling  details  in 
the  old  man's  version,  and  so  forth.  "What  could 
he  have  meant  by  the  light  on  the  hand  ?  "  she  said 
wondering.  "  I  never  heard  of  that  before.  And  she 
used  always  to  be  in  grey ;  and  now  he  says  that  she 
had  a  black  dress  from  top  to  toe." 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  257 

"Their  wardrobes  are  so  limited  —  poor  damp, 
sloppy  tilings  !  "  said  Laura  flippantly,  as  she  brushed 
her  stepmother's  hair.  "Do  you  suppose  this  non- 
sense will  be  all  over  the  country-side  to-morrow, 
Augustina  ?  " 

"  What  do  you  i'ecUly  think  he  saw,  Laura  ?  "  cried 
Mrs.  Fountain,  wavering  between  doubt  and  belief. 

"Goodness!  —  don't  ask  me."  Miss  Fountain 
shrugged  her  small  shoulders.  "I  don't  keep  a  fam- 
ily ghost." 

When  at  last  Augustina  had  been  settled  in  bed, 
and  persuaded  to  take  some  of  her  sleeping  medicine, 
Laura  was  bidding  her  good-night,  when  Mrs.  Foun- 
tain said,  "Oh!  I  forgot,  Laura  —  there  was  a  letter 
brought  in  for  you  from  the  post-office,  by  Wilson 
this  afternoon  —  he  gave  it  to  Mrs.  Denton,  and  she 
forgot  it  till  after  dinner " 

"Of  course  —  because  it  was  mine,"  said  Laura  vin- 
dictively.    "  Where  is  it  ?  " 

"  On  the  drawing-room  chimney-piece.  " 

"  All  right.  I'll  go  for  it.  But  I  shall  be  disturb- 
ing Mr.  Helbeck." 

"  Oh !  no  —  it's  much  too  late.  Alan  will  have  gone 
to  his  study." 

Miss  Fountain  stood  a  moment  outside  her  step- 
mother's door,  consulting  her  watch. 

VOI-.    I.  — s 


258  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

For  she  was  anxious  to  get  her  letter,  and  not  at  all 
anxious  to  fall  in  with  Mr.  Helbeck.  At  least,  so  she 
would  have  explained  herself  had  anyone  questioned 
her.  In  fact,  her  wishes  and  intentions  were  in  tu- 
multuous confusion.  All  the  time  that  she  was  wait- 
ing on  Augustina,  her  brain,  her  pulse  was  racing.  In 
the  added  touch  of  stiffness  which  she  had  observed 
in  Helbeck's  manner,  she  easily  divined  the  result  of 
that  conversation  he  had  no  doubt  held  with  Augustina 
after  dinner,  while  she  was  by  the  river.  Did  he  think 
even  worse  of  her  than  he  had  before  ?  Well !  — if  he 
and  Augustina  could  do  without  her,  let  them  send 
her  away — by  all  manner  of  means!  She  had  her 
own  friends,  her  own  money,  was  in  all  respects  her 
own  mistress,  and  only  asked  to  be  allowed  to  lead 
her  life  as  she  pleased. 

Nevertheless  —  as  she  crossed  the  darkness  of  the 
hall,  with  her  candle  in  her  hand  —  Laura  Fountain 
was  very  near  indeed  to  a  fit  of  wild  weeping.  Dur- 
ing the  months  following  her  father's  death,  these 
agonies  of  crying  had  come  upon  her  night  after  night 
—  unseen  by  any  human  being.  She  felt  now  the  ap- 
proach of  an  old  enemy  and  struggled  with  it.  "  One 
mustn't  have  this  excitement  every  night !  "  she  said 
to  herself,  half  mocking.     "  No  nerves  would  stand  it." 

A  light  under  the  library  door.  Well  and  good. 
How — she  wondered  —  did  lie  occupy  himself  there, 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE  259 

through  so  many  solitaiy  hours  ?  Once  or  twice  she 
had  heard  him  come  upstairs  to  bed,  and  never  before 
one  or  two  o'clock. 

Suddenly  she  stood  abashed.  She  had  thrown  open 
the  drawing-room  door,  and  the  room  lay  before  her, 
almost  in  darkness.  One  dim  lamp  still  burned  at  the 
further  end,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  room  stood  Mr. 
Heibeck,  arrested  in  his  walk  to  and  fro,  and  the 
picture  of  astonishment. 

Laura  drew  back  in  real  discomfiture.  "  Oh,  I  beg 
your  pardon,  Mr.  Heibeck  !  I  had  no  notion  that  any- 
one was  still  here." 

"  Is  there  anything  I  can  do  for  you  ?  "  he  said 
advancing. 

"  Augustina  told  me  there  was  a  letter  for  me  this 
evening." 

"  Of  course.  It  is  here  on  the  mantelpiece.  I 
ought  to  have  remembered  it." 

He  took  up  the  letter  and  held  it  towards  her. 
Then  suddenly  he  paused,  and  sharply  withdrawing 
it,  he  placed  it  on  a  table  beside  him,  and  laid  his 
hand  upon  it.  She  saw  a  flash  of  quick  resolution 
in  his  face,  and  her  own  pulses  gave  a  throb. 

''Miss  Fountain,  will  you  excuse  my  detaining  you 
for  a  moment  ?  I  have  been  thinking  much  about 
this  old  man's  story,  and  the  possible  explanation  of 
it.     It  struck  me  in  a  very   singular  way.     As  you 


2G0  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

know,  I  liave  never  paid  niueii  attention  to  the  ghost 
story  here  —  we  have  never  before  had  a  testimony  so 
direct.  Is  it  possible  —  that  you  might  throw  some 
light  upon  it  ?  You  left  us,  you  remember,  after 
dinner.  Did  you  by  chance  go  into  the  garden  ?  — 
the  evening  was  tempting,  I  think.  If  so,  your  mem- 
ory might  possibly  recall  to  you  some  —  slight  thing." 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  "  I 
did  go  into  the  garden." 

His  eye  gleamed.     He  came  a  step  nearer. 

"  Did  you  see  or  hear  anything  —  to  explain  what 
happened  ?  " 

She  did  not  answer  for  a  moment.  She  made  a 
vague  movement,  as  though  to  recover  her  letter  — 
looked  curiously  into  a  glass  case  that  stood  beside 
her,  containing  a  few  Stuart  relics  and  autographs. 
Then,  with  absolute  self-possession,  she  turned  and 
confronted  him,  one  hand  resting  on  the  glass  case. 

*'  Yes  ;  I  can  explain  it  all.     I  was  the  ghost !  " 

There  was  a  moment's  silence.  A  smile  —  a  smile 
that  she  winced  under,  showed  itself  on  Helbeck's 
lip. 

"  I  imagined  as  much,"  he  said  quietly. 

She  stood  there,  torn  by  different  impulses.  Then 
a  passion  of  annoyance  with  herself,  and  anger  with 
him,  descended  on  her. 

*'Now  perhaps  you  would  like  to  know  why  I  con- 


UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  2G1 

cealed  it  ? "  she  said,  with  all  the  dignity  she  could 
command.  "  Simply,  because  I  had  gone  out  to  meet 
and  say  good-bye  to  a  person  —  who  is  my  relation  — 
whom  I  cannot  meet  in  this  house,  and  against  whom 
there  is  here  an  unreasonable  —  "  She  hesitated ;  then 
resumed,  leaning  obstinately  on  the  words  —  "■  Yes ! 
take  it  all  in  all,  it  /s  an  unreasonable  prejudice." 

"  You  mean  Mr.  Hubert  Mason  ?  " 

She  nodded. 

"  You  think  it  an  unreasonable  prejudice  after  what 
happened  the  other  night  ?  " 

She  wavered. 

"  I  don't  want  to  defend  what  happened  the  other 
night,"  she  said,  Avhile  her  voice  shook. 

Helbeck  observed  her  carefully.  There  was  a  great 
decision  in  his  manner,  and  at  the  same  time  a  fine 
courtesy. 

''  You  knew,  then,  that  he  was  to  be  in  the  park  ? 
Forgive  my  questions.     They  are  not  mere  curiosity. "'" 

<'  Perhaps  not,"  she  said  indifferently.  "  But  I 
think  I  have  told  you  all  that  needs  to  be  told.  May 
I  have  my  letter  ?  " 

She  stepped  forward. 

"One  moment.  I  wonder.  Miss  Fountain," — he 
chose  his  words  slowly — ''if  I  could  make  you 
understand  my  position.  It  is  this.  My  sister  brings 
a  young  lady,  her  stepdaughter,  to   stay    under    my 


262  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

roof.  That  young  lady  happens  to  be  connected  with 
a  family  in  this  neighbourhood,  which  is  already  well 
known  to  me.  For  some  of  its  members  I  have 
nothing  but  respect  —  about  one  I  happen  to  have  a 
strong  opinion.  I  have  reasons  for  my  opinion.  I 
imagine  that  very  few  people  of  any  way  of  thinking 
would  hold  me  either  unreasonable  or  prejudiced  in 
the  matter.  Naturally,  it  gives  me  some  concern  that 
a  young  lady  towards  whom  I  feel  a  certain  responsi- 
bility should  be  much  seen  with  this  young  man. 
He  is  not  her  equal  socially,  and  —  pardon  me  —  she 
knows  nothing  at  all  about  the  type  to  which  he 
belongs.  Indirectly  I  try  to  warn  her.  I  speak  to 
my  sister  as  gently  as  I  can.  But  from  the  first  she 
rejects  all  I  have  to  say  —  she  gives  me  credit  for 
no  good  intention  —  and  she  will  have  none  of  my 
advice.  At  last  a  disagreeable  incident  happens 
—  and  unfortunately  the  knowledge  of  it  is  not  con- 
fined to  ourselves " 

Laura  threw  him  a  flashing  look. 

"  No !  —  there  are  people  who  have  taken  care  of 
that !  "  she  said. 

Helbeck  took  no  notice. 

"It  is  known  not  only  to  ourselves,"  he  repeated 
steadily.  ''It  starts  gossip.  My  sister  is  troubled. 
She  asks  you  to  put  an  end  to  this  state  of  things, 
and  she  consults  mo,  feeling  that  indeed  we  are  all  in 
some  way  concerned." 


EELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  263 

"Oh,  say  at  once  that  I  have  brought  scandal  on 
you  all ! "  cried  Laura.  "  That  of  course  is  what 
Sister  Angela  and  Father  Bowles  have  been  saying  to 
Augustina.  They  are  pleased  to  show  the  greatest 
anxiety  about  me  —  so  much  so,  that  they  most  kindly 
wish  to  relieve  me  of  the  charge  of  Augustina.  —  So 
I  understand !  But  I  fear  I  am  neither  docile  nor 
grateful !  —  that  I  never  shall  be  grateful " 

Helbeck  interrupted. 

"  Let  us  come  to  that  presently.  I  should  like  to 
finish  my  story.  A\Tiile  my  sister  and  I  are  consult- 
ing, trying  to  think  of  all  that  can  be  done  to  stop  a 
foolish  talk  and  undo  an  unlucky  incident,  this  same 
young  lady"  —  his  voice  took  a  cold  clearness  — 
"  steals  out  by  night  to  keep  an  appointment  with 
this  man,  who  has  already  done  her  so  great  a  dis- 
service. Now  I  should  like  to  ask  her,  if  all  this  is 
kind  —  is  reasonable  —  is  generous  towards  the  per- 
sons with  whom  she  is  at  present  living  —  if  such 
conduct  is  not " — he  paused  —  "  unwise  towards  her- 
self—  unjust  towards  others." 

His  words  came  out  with  a  strong  and  vibrating  em- 
phasis.    Laura  confronted  him  with  crimson  cheeks. 

"I  think  that  will  do,  Mr.  Helbeck!"  xhe  cried. 
"  You  have  had  your  say.  — Now  just  let  me  say  this, 
—  these  people  were  my  relations  —  I  have  no  other 
kith  and  kin  in  the  world." 


204  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

He  made  a  quick  step  forward  as  though  in  distress. 
But  she  put  up  her  hand. 

"  I  want  very  much  to  say  this,  please.  I  knew 
perfectly  well  when  I  came  here  that  you  couldn't 
like  the  Masons  —  for  many  reasons."  Her  voice 
broke  again.  ''You  never  liked  Augustina's  mar- 
riage—  you  weren't  likely  to  want  to  see  anything 
of  papa's  people.  I  didn't  ask  you  to  see  them.  All 
my  standards  and  theirs  are  different  from  yours. 
But  I  prefer  theirs  —  not  yours !  I  have  nothing  to 
do  with  yours.  I  was  brought  up  —  well,  to  hate 
yours  —  if  one  must  tell  the  truth." 

She  paused,  half  suffocated,  her  chest  heaving. 
Helbeck's  glance  enveloped  her  —  took  in  the  con- 
trast between  her  violent  words  and  the  shrinking 
delicacy  of  her  small  form.  A  great  melting  stole 
over  the  man's  dark  face.  But  he  spoke  dryly 
enough. 

"  I  imagine  the  standards  of  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics are  pretty  much  alike  in  matters  of  this  kind. 
But  don't  let  us  waste  time  any  more  over  what  has 
already  happened.  I  should  like,  I  confess,  to  plead 
with  you  as  to  the  future." 

He  looked  at  her  kindly,  even  entreatingly.  All 
through  this  scene  she  had  been  unwillingly,  angrily 
conscious  of  his  personal  dignity  and  charm  —  a  dig- 
nity that  seemed  to  emerge  in  moments  of  heightened 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  265 

action  or  feeling,  and  to  slip  out  of  sight  again  under 
the  absent  hermit-manner  of  his  ordinary  life.  She 
was  smarting  under  his  words  —  ready  to  concentrate 
a  double  passion  of  resentment  upon  them,  as  soon  as 
she  should  be  alone  and  free  to  recall  them.  And 
yet 

"As  to  the  future,"  she  said  coldly.  "That  is 
simple  enough  as  far  as  one  person  is  concerned. 
Hubert  Mason  is  going  to  Froswick  immediately,  into 
business." 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  it  —  it  will  be  very  much  for 
his  good." 

He  stopped  a  moment,  searching  for  the  word  of 
persuasion  and  conciliation. 

"  Miss  Fountain  !  —  if  you  imagine  that  certain 
incidents  which  happened  here  long  before  you  came 
into  this  neighbourhood  had  anything  to  do  with  what 
I  have  been  saying  now,  let  me  assure  you  —  most 
earnestly  —  that  it  is  not  so!  I  recognise  fully  that 
with  regard  to  a  certain  case  —  of  which  you  may 
have  heard  —  the  Masons  and  their  friends  honestly 
believed  that  wrong  and  injustice  had  been  done. 
They  attempted  personal  violence.  I  can  hardly  be 
expected  to  think  it  argument !  But  I  bear  them  no 
malice.  I  say  tliis  because  you  may  have  heard  of 
something  that  happened  three  or  four  years  ago  —  a 
row  in  the  streets,  when  Father  Bowles  and  I  were 


26G  HELBECK   OF  BAXXISDALE 

set  "upon.  It  has  never  weighed  with  me  in  the 
slightest,  and  I  could  have  shaken  hands  with  old 
Mason  —  who  was  in  the  crowd,  and  refused  to  stop 
the  stone  throwing  —  the  day  after.  As  for  Mrs. 
Mason  "  —  he  looked  up  with  a  smile  —  '•'  if  she 
could  possibly  have  persuaded  herself  to  come  with 
her  daughter  and  see  you  here,  my  welcome  would 
not  have  been  wanting.  But,  you  know,  she  would  as 
soon  -\asit  Gehenna !  Nobody  could  be  more  conscious 
than  I,  Miss  Fountain,  that  this  is  a  dreary  house  for 
a  young  lady  to  live  in  —  and " 

The  colour  mounted  into  his  face,  but  he  did  not 
shrink  from  Avhat  he  meant  to  say. 

"And  you  have  made  us  all  feel  that  you  regard 
the  practices  and  observances  by  which  we  try  to 
fill  and  inspire  our  lives,  as  mere  hateful  folly  and 
superstition !  "  He  checked  himself.  "  Is  that  too 
strong  ?  "  he  added,  with  a  sudden  eagerness.  "  If 
so,  I  apologise  for  and  withdraw  it  I  " 

Laura,  for  a  moment,  was  speechless.  Then  she 
gathered  her  forces,  and  said,  with  a  voice  she  in  vain 
tried  to  compose : 

"  I  think  you  exaggerate,  ]\Ir.  Helbeck ;  at  any  rate, 
I  hope  you  do.  But  the  fact  is,  I  —  I  ought  not  to 
have  tried  to  bear  it.  Considering  all  that  had  hap- 
pened at  home  —  it  was  more  than  I  had  strength 
for  1     And  jjerhaps  —  no  good  will  come  of  going  on 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  267 

with  it  —  and  it  had  better  cease.  Mr.  Helbeck  !  —  if 
your  Superior  can  really  find  a  good  nurse  and  com- 
panion at  once,  will  you  kindly  communicate  with 
her  ?  I  will  go  to  Cambridge  immediately,  as  soon  as 
I  can  arrange  with  my  friends.  Augustina,  no  doubt, 
will  come  and  stay  with  me  somewhere  at  the  sea, 
later  on  in  the  year." 

Helbeck  had  been  listening  to  her  —  to  the  sharp 
determination  of  her  voice  —  in  total  silence.  He 
was  leaning  against  the  high  mantelpiece,  and  his 
face  was  hidden  from  her.  As  she  ceased  to  speak, 
he  turned,  and  his  mere  aspect  beat  down  the  girl's 
anger  in  a  moment.     He  shook  his  head  sadly. 

"  Dr.  MacBride  stopped  me  on  the  bridge  yesterday, 
as  he  was  coming  away  from  the  house." 

Laura  drew  back.     Her  eyes  fastened  upon  him. 

"He  thinks  her  in  a  serious  state.  We  are  not  to 
alarm  her,  or  interfere  with  her  daily  habits.  There 
is  valvular  disease  —  as  I  think  you  knoAv  —  and  it 
has  advanced.  Neither  he  nor  anyone  can  fore- 
cast." 

The  girl's  head  fell.  She  recognised  that  the  con- 
test Avas  over.  She  could  not  go;  she  could  not 
leave  Augustina ;  and  the  inference  was  clear.  There 
had  not  been  a  word  of  menace,  but  she  understood. 
Mr.  Helbeck's  will  must  prevail.  She  had  brought 
this  humiliating  half-hour  on  herself  —  and  she  would 


268  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

have  to  bear  the  consequences  of  it.  She  moved 
towards  Helbeck. 

"Well  then,  I  must  stay,"  she  said  huskily,  "and 
I  must  try  to  —  to  remember  where  I  am  in  future. 
I  ought  to  be  able  to  hide  everything  I  feel  —  of 
course !  But  that  unfortunately  is  what  I  never 
learnt.  And  —  there  are  some  ways  of  life  —  that  — 
that  are  too  far  apart.  However ! "  —  she  raised  her 
hand  to  her  brow,  frowned,  and  thought  a  little  — 
"I  can't  make  any  promise  about  my  cousins,  Mr. 
Helbeck.  I  know  perfectly  well  —  whatever  may  be 
said  —  that  I  have  done  nothing  whatever  to  be 
ashamed  of.  I  have  wanted  to  —  to  help  my  cousin. 
He  is  worth  helping  —  in  spite  of  everything  —  and 
I  will  help  him,  if  I  can !  But  if  I  am  to  remain  your 
guest,  I  see  that  I  must  consult  your  wishes " 

Helbeck  tried  again  to  stop  her  with  a  gesture,  but 
she  hurried  on. 

"  As  far  as  this  house  and  neighbourhood  are  con- 
cerned, no  one  shall  have  any  reason  —  to  talk." 

Then  she  threw  her  head  back  with  a  sudden  flush. 

"  Of  course,  if  people  are  born  to  say  and  think  ill- 
natured  things  !  —  like  Mrs.  Denton " 

Helbeck  exclaimed. 

"  I  will  see  to  that,"  he  said.  "  You  shall  have  no 
reason  to  complain,  there." 

Laura  shrugged  her  shoulders. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  269 

"  Will  you  kindly  give  me  my  letter  ?  " 
As  he  handed  it  to  her,  she  made  him  a  little  bow, 
walked  to  the  door  before  he  could  open  it -for  her, 
and  was  gone. 

Helbeck  turned  back,  with  a  smothered  exclama- 
tion. He  put  the  lamps  out,  and  went  slowly  to  his 
study. 

As  the  master  of  Bannisdale  closed  the  door  of  his 
library  behind  him,  the  familiar  room  produced  upon 
him  a  sharp  and  singular  impression.  The  most 
sacred  and  the  most  critical  hours  of  his  life  had  been 
passed  within  its  walls.  As  he  entered  it  now,  it 
seemed  to  repulse  him,  to  be  no  longer  his. 

The  room  was  not  large.  It  was  the  old  library  of 
the  house,  and  the  Helbecks  in  their  palmiest  days 
had  never  been  a  literary  race.  There  was  a  little 
seventeenth  century  theology;  and  a  few  English 
classics.  There  were  the  French  books  of  Helbeck's 
-grandmother  —  "Madame,"  as  she  was  always  known 
at  Bannisdale ;  and  amongst  them  the  worn  brown 
volumes  of  St.  Franqois  de  Sales,  with  the  yellowish 
paper  slips  that  Madame  had  put  in  to  mark  her 
favourite  passages,  somewhere  in  the  days  of  the 
First  Empire.  Near  by  were  some  stray  military 
volumes,  treatises  on  tactics  and  fortiiication,  that 
had  belonged  to  a  dashing  young  officer  in  tlie  Dillon 


270  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Regiment,  close  to  some  "Epitres  Amoureuses,"  a 
translation  of  "  Daplmis  and  Chloe,"  and  the  like  — 
all  now  sunk  together  into  the  same  dusty  neglect. 

On  the  wall  above  Helbeck's  writing-table  were 
ranged  the  books  that  had  been  his  mother's,  together 
with  those  that  he  himself  habitually  used.  Here 
every  volume  was  an  old  friend,  a  familiar  tool. 
Alan  Helbeck  was  neither  a  student  nor  a  man  of 
letters ;  but  he  had  certain  passionate  prejudices, 
instincts,  emotions,  of  which  some  books  were  the 
source  and  sustenance. 

For  the  rest  —  during  some  years  he  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  and  in  its 
other  features  the  room  was  almost  the  room  of  a 
religious.  A  priedieu  stood  against  the  inner  wall, 
and  a  crucifix  hung  above  it.  A  little  further  on  was 
a  small  altar  of  St.  Joseph  with  its  pictures,  its 
statuette,  and  its  candles;  and  a  poor  lithograph  of 
Pio  Nono  looked  doAvn  from  the  mantelpiece.  The 
floor  was  almost  bare,  save  for  a  few  pieces  of  old 
matting  here  and  there.  The  worn  Turkey  carpet 
that  had  formerly  covered  it  had  been  removed  to 
make  the  drawing-room  comfortable  for  Augustina; 
so  had  most  of  the  chairs.  Those  left  were  of  the 
straightest  and  hardest. 

In  that  dingy  room,  however,  Helbeck  had  known 
the   most   blessed,   the   most    intimate    moments    of 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  21  i 

the  spiritual  life.  To-night  he  entered  it  with  a 
strange  sense  of  wrench  —  of  mortal  discouragement. 
Mechanically  he  went  to  his  writing-table,  and, 
sitting  down  before  it,  he  took  a  key  from  his  watch- 
chain  and  opened  a  large  locked  note-book  that  lay 
upon  it. 

The  book  contained  a  number  of  written  medita- 
tions, a  collection  of  passages  and  thoughts,  together 
with  some  faded  photographs  of  his  mother,  and  of 
his  earliest  Jesuit  teachers  at  Stonyhurst. 

On  the  last  page  was  a  paragraph  that  only  the 
night  before  he  had  copied  from  one  of  his  habitual 
books  of  devotion  —  copying  it  as  a  spiritual  exercise 
—  making  himself  dwell  upon  every  word  of  it. 

"  When  shall  I  desire  TJiee  alone  — feed  on  Thee 
alone  —  0  my  Delight,  my  only  good  !  0  my  loving 
and  almighty  Lord  !  free  noio  this  ivretched  heart 
from  every  attachment,  from  every  earthly  affection  ; 
adorn  it  ivith  Thy  holy  virtues,  and  ivith  a  jnire  inten- 
tion of  doing  all  things  to  please  Tliee,  that  so  I  may 
open  it  to  Thee,  and  ivith  gentle  violence  compel  Thee 
to  come  in,  that  Tliou,  0  Lord,  mayest  work  therein 
without  resistance  all  those  effects  which  from  all 
Eternity  Thou  hast  desired  to  produce  in  me." 

He  lingered  a  little  on  the  words,  his  face  buried 
in  his  hands.  Then  slowly  he  turned  back  to  an 
earlier  page  — 


272  HELBECK   OF  BANNISBALE 

^^  Man  must  use  creatures  as  being  in  themselves  irv- 
different.  He  must  not  be  under  their  power,  but  use 
them  for  his  own  purpose,  his  own  first  and  chiefest 
purpose,  the  salvation  of  his  soul." 

A  shudder  passed  tlirougli  him.  He  rose  hastily 
from  his  seat,  and  began  to  pace  the  room.  He 
had  already  passed  through  a  wrestle  of  the  same 
kind,  and  had  gone  away  to  fight  down  temptation. 
To-night  the  struggle  was  harder.  The  waves  of 
rising  passion  broke  through  him. 

"  Little  pale,  angry  face !     I  gave  her  a  scolding 

« 

like  a  child — what  joy  to  have  forgiven  her  like  a 
child  !  —  to  have  asked  her  pardon  in  return  —  to 
have  felt  the  soft  head  against  my  breast.  She 
was  very  fierce  with  me  —  she  hates  me,  I  suppose. 
And  yet  —  she  is  not  indifferent  to  rae !  —  she  knows 
when  I  am  there.  Downstairs  she  was  conscious  of 
me  all  through  —  I  knew  it.  Her  secret  was  in  her 
face.  I  guessed  it  —  foolish  child  —  from  the  first 
moment.  Strange,  stormy  nature  !  —  I  see  it  all  — 
her  passion  for  her  father,  and  for  these  peasants 
as  belonging  to  him  —  her  hatred  of  me  and  of  our 
faith,  because  her  father  hated  us  —  her  feeling  for 
Augustina  —  that  rigid  sense  of  obligation  she  has, 
just  on  the  two  or  three  points  —  points  of  natural 
affection.  It  is  this  sense,  perhaps,  that  makes  the 
soul   of    her    struggle    with   this    house  —  with    me. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  273 

How  she  loathes  all  that  we  love — humility,  patience, 
obedience !  She  would  sooner  die  than  obey.  Un- 
less she  loved !  Then  what  an  art,  what  an  enchant- 
ment to  command  her!  It  would  tax  a  lover's 
power,  a  lover's  heart,  to  the  utmost.     Ah ! " 

He  stood  still,  and  with  an  effort  of  iron  resolu- 
tion put  from  him  the  fancies  that  were  thronging 
on  the  brain.  If  it  were  possible  for  him  to  con- 
quer her,  conceivable  that  he  might  win  her  —  such 
a  dream  was  forbidden  to  him,  Alan  Helbeck,  a 
thousandfold !  Such  a  marriage  would  be  the  de- 
struction of  innumerable  schemes  for  the  good  of 
the  Church,  for  the  perfecting  of  his  own  life.  It 
would  be  the  betrayal  of  great  trusts,  the  abandon- 
ment of  great  opportunities.  "  My  life  would  centre 
in  her.  She  would  come  first  —  the  Church  second. 
Her  nature  would  work  on  mine  —  not  mine  on  hers. 
Could  I  ever  speak  to  her  even  of  what  I  believe  ? 

—  the  very  alphabet  of  it  is  unknown  to  her.  I 
shrink  from  proselytism.  God  forgive  me  !  — it  is 
her  wild  pagan  self  that  I  love  —  that  I  desire " 

The  blast  of  human  longing,  human  pain,  was  hard 
to  meet  —  hard  to  subdue.     But  the  Catholic  fought 

—  and  conquered. 

"  I  am  not  my  own  —  I  have  taken  tasks  upon  me 
that  no  honest  man  could  betray.  There  are  vows  on 
me  also,  that  bind  me  specially  to  our  Lord  —  to  his 

VOL.  I.  —  T 


274  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Church.  The  Church  frowns  on  such  a  love  ■-—  such 
marriages.  She  does  not  forbid  them  —  but  they  pain 
her  heart.  I  have  accepted  her  judgment  till  now, 
without  difficulty,  without  conflict.  Now  to  obey  is 
hard.  But  I  can  obey  —  we  are  not  asked  impossi- 
bilities." 

He  walked  to  the  crucifix,  and  threw  himself  down 
before  it.  A  midnight  stillness  brooded  over  the 
house. 

But  far  away,  in  an  upper  room,  Laura  Fountain 
had  cried  herself  to  sleep  —  only  to  wake  again  and 
again,  with  the  tears  flooding  her  cheeks.  Was  it 
merely  a  disagreeable  and  exciting  scene  she  had 
gone  through  ?  What  was  this  new  invasion  of  her 
life  ?  —  this  new  presence  to  the  inward  eye  of  a  form 
and  look  that  at  once  drew  her  and  repulsed  her.  A 
hundred  alien  forces  were  threatening  and  pressing 
upon  her  —  and  out  from  the  very  heart  of  them  came 
this  strange  drawing  —  this  magnetism  —  this  troub- 
ling misery. 

To  be  prisoned  in  Bannisdale  —  under  Mr.  Hel- 
beck's  roof  —  for  months  and  months  longer  —  this 
thought  was  maddening  to  her. 

But  when  she  imagined  herself  free  to  go  —  and 
far  away  once  more  from  this  old  and  melancholy 
house  —  among    congenial   friends   and   scenes  —  she 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  275 

was  no  happier  tlian  before.  A  little  moan  of  anger 
and  pain  came,  that  she  stifled  against  her  pillow, 
calling  passionately  on  the  sleep  that  would,  that 
must,  chase  all  these  phantoms  of  fatigue  or  excite- 
ment —  and  give  her  back  her  old  free  self. 


BOOK  III 


BOOK  III 

CHAPTER  I 

"  We  shall  get  there  in  capital  time  —  that's  nice  ! " 
said  Polly  Mason,  putting  down  the  little  railway  guide 
she  had  just  purchased  at  Marsland  Station,  with  a 
general  rustle  of  satisfaction. 

Polly  indeed  shone  with  good  temper  and  new 
clothes.  Her  fringe  —  even  halved  —  was  prodigious. 
Her  cheap  lemon-coloured  gloves  were  cracking  on 
her  large  hands ;  and  round  her  beflowered  hat  she  had 
tied  clouds  on  clouds  of  white  tulle,  which  to  some 
extent  softened  the  tans  and  crimsons  of  her  complex- 
ion. Her  dress  was  of  a  stiff  white  cotton  stuff,  that 
fell  into  the  most  startling  folds  and  angles ;  and  at 
every  movement  of  it,  the  starch  rattled. 

On  the  opposite  seat  of  the  railway  carriage  was 
Laura  Fountain  —  an  open  book  upon  her  knee  that  she 
was  not  reading.  She  made  no  answer,  however,  to 
Polly's  remark ;  the  impression  left  by  her  attitude 
was  that  she  took  no  interest  in  it.  Miss  Fountain 
herself  hardly  seemed  to  have  profited  much  by  that 

27'J 


280  IlELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Westmoreland  air  whereof  the  qualities  were  to  do  so 
much  for  Augustina.  It  was  now  June,  the  end  of 
June,  and  Laura  was  certainly  paler,  less  blooming, 
than  she  had  been  in  March.  She  seemed  more  con- 
scious ;  she  was  certainly  less  radiant.  Whether  her 
prettiness  had  gained  by  the  slight  change,  might  be 
debated.  Polly's  eyes,  indeed,  as  they  sped  along, 
paid  her  cousin  one  long  covetous  tribute.  The  diffi- 
culty that  she  always  had  in  putting  on  her  own 
clothes,  and  softening  her  own  physical  points,  made 
her  the  more  conscious  of  Laura's  delicate  ease,  of  all 
the  yielding  and  graceful  lines  into  which  the  little 
black  and  white  muslin  frock  fell  so  readily,  of  all 
that  natural  kinship  between  Laura  and  her  hats, 
Laura  and  her  gloves,  which  poor  Polly  fully  per- 
ceived, knowing  well  and  sadly  that  she  herself  could 
never  attain  to  it. 

Nevertheless  —  pretty,  Miss  Fountain  might  be; 
elegant  she  certainly  was ;  but  Polly  did  not  find  her 
the  best  of  companions  for  a  festal  day.  They  were 
going  to  Froswick  —  the  big  town  on  the  coast  —  to 
meet  Hubert  and  another  young  man,  one  Mr.  Seaton, 
foreman  in  a  large  engineering  concern,  whose  name 
Polly  had  not  been  able  to  mention  without  bridling, 
for  some  time  past. 

It  was  more  than  a  fortnight  since  the  sister,  driven 
by  Hubert's  incessant  letters,  had  proposed  to  Laura 


HELBECK  OF  BANNI8BALE  281 

that  tliey  two  should  spend  a  summer  day  at  Fros- 
wick  and  see  the  great  steel  works  on  which  the  fame 
of  that  place  depended,  escorted  and  entertained  by 
the  two  young  men.  Laura  at  first  had  turned  a  deaf 
ear.  Then  all  at  once  —  a  very  flare  of  eagerness  and 
acceptance !  —  a  sudden  choosing  of  day  and  train.  And 
now  that  they  were  actually  on  their  way,  with  every- 
thing arranged,  and  a  glorious  June  sun  above  their 
heads,  Laura  was  so  silent,  so  reluctant,  so  irritable 
—  you  might  have  thought 

Well!  —  Polly  really  did  not  know  what  to  think. 
She  was  not  quite  happy  herself.  From  time  to  time, 
as  her  look  dwelt  on  Laura,  she  was  conscious  of  cer- 
tain guilty  reserves  and  concealments  in  her  own 
breast.  She  wished  Hubert  had  more  sense  —  she 
hoped  to  goodness  it  would  all  go  off  nicely  !  But  of 
course  it  would.  Polly  was  an  optimist  and  took  all 
things  simply.  Her  anxieties  for  Laura  did  not  long 
resist  the  mere  pleasure  of  the  journey  and  the  trip, 
the  flatteries  of  expectation.  What  a  very  respectable 
and,  on  the  whole,  good-looking  young  man  was  Mr. 
Seaton !  Polly  had  met  him  first  at  the  Browhead 
dance;  so  that  what  was  a  mere  black  and  ugly  spot 
in  Laura's  memory  shone  rosy-red  in  her  cousin's. 

Meanwhile  Laura,  mainly  to  avoid  Polly's  con- 
versation, was  looking  hard  out  of  window.  They 
were  running   along  the  southern   shore  of   a  great 


282  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

estuary.  Behind  the  loitering  train  rose  the  hills 
they  had  just  left,  the  hills  that  sheltered  the 
stream  and  the  woods  of  Bannisdale.  That  rich, 
dark  patch  beneath  the  further  brow  was  the  wood 
in  which  the  house  stood.  To  the  north,  across  the 
bay,  ran  the  line  of  high  mountains,  a  dim  para- 
dise of  sunny  slopes  and  steeps,  under  the  keenest 
and  brightest  of  skies  —  blue  ramparts  from  which 
the  gently  opening  valleys  flowed  downwards,  one 
beside  the  other,  to  the  estuary  and  the  sea. 

Not  that  the  great  plunging  sea  itself  was  much 
to  be  seen  as  yet.  Immediately  beyond  the  railway 
line  stretched  leagues  of  firm  reddish  sand,  pierced 
by  the  innumerable  channels  of  the  Greet.  The  sun 
lay  hot  and  dazzling  on  the  wide  flat  surfaces,  on 
the  flocks  of  gulls,  on  the  pools  of  clear  water.  The 
window  was  open,  and  through  the  June  heat  swept 
a  sharp,  salt  breath,  Laura,  however,  felt  none  of  the 
physical  exhilaration  that  as  a  rule  overflowed  in  her 
so  readily.  Was  it  because  the  Bannisdale  Woods  were 
still  visible  ?  What  made  the  significance  of  that 
dark  patch  to  the  girl's  restless  eye  ?  She  came  back 
to  it  again  and  again.  It  was  like  a  flag,  round  which 
a  hundred  warring  thoughts  had  come  to  gather. 

Why? 

Were  not  she  and  Mr.  Helbeck  on  the  best  of 
terms?     Was   not   Augustina   quite   pleased  —  quite 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  283 

content ?  "I  always  knew,  my  dear  Laura,  that  you 
and  Alan  would  get  on,  in  time.  Why,  anyone  could 
get  on  with  Alan  —  he's  so  kind ! "  When  these 
things  were  said,  Laura  generally  laughed.  She  did 
not  remind  Mrs.  Fountain  that  she,  at  one  time  of 
her  existence,  had  not  found  it  particularly  easy 
and  simple  to  "  get  on  with  Alan " ;  but  the  girl 
did  once  allow  herself  the  retort  —  "  It's  not  so  easy 
to  quarrel,  is  it,  when  you  don't  see  a  person  from 
week's  end  to  week's  end  ?  "  "  Week's  end  to  week's 
end  ?  "  Mrs.  Fountain  repeated  vaguely.  "  Yes  — 
Alan  is  away  a  great  deal  —  people  trust  him  so 
much  —  he  has  so  much  business." 

Laura  was  of  opinion  that  his  first  business  might 
very  well  have  been  to  see  a  little  more  of  his 
widowed  sister !  She  and  Augustina  spent  days  and 
days  alone,  while  Mr.  Helbeck  pursued  the  affairs  of 
the  Church.  One  precious  attempt  indeed  had  been 
made  to  break  the  dulness  of  Bannisdale.  Miss 
Fountain's  cheeks  burned  when  she  thought  of  it. 
There  had  been  an  afternoon  party !  though  Augus- 
tina's  widowhood  was  barely  a  year  old !  Mrs.  Foun- 
tain had  been  sent  about  the  country  delivering  notes 
and  cards.  And  the  result :  —  oh,  such  a  party  !  — 
such  an  i^iterminable  afternoon!  Where  had  the 
people  come  from  ?  —  who  were  they  ?  If  Polly, 
full  of  curiosity,  asked  for  some  details,  Laura  would 


284  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

toss  her  head  and  reply 'that  she  knew  nothing  at  all 
about  it ;  that  Mrs.  Denton  had  provided  bad  tea  and 
worse  cakes,  and  the  guests  had  "  filled  their  chairs," 
and  there  was  nothing  else  to  say.  Mr.  Helbeck's 
shyness  and  efforts ;  the  glances  of  appeal  he  threw 
every  now  and  then  towards  his  sister ;  his  evident 
depression  when  the  thing  was  done — these  things 
were  not  told  to  Polly.  There  was  a  place  for  them 
in  the  girPs  sore  mind ;  but  they  did  not  come  to 
speech.  Anyway  she  believed  —  nay,  was  quite  sure 
—  that  Bannisdale  would  not  be  so  tried  a  second 
time.     For  whose  benefit  was  it  done  ?  —  whose ! 

One  evening 

As  the  train  crossed  the  bridge  of  the  estuary,  from 
one  stretch  of  hot  sand  to  another,  Laura,  staring  at 
the  view,  saw  really  nothing  but  an  image  of  the  mind, 
felt  nothing  except  what  came  through  the  magic  of 
memory. 

The  hall  of  Bannisdale,  with  the  lingering  daylight 
of  the  north  still  coming  in  at  ten  o'clock  through  the 
uncurtained  oriel  windows  —  herself  at  the  piano, 
Augustina  on  the  settle  —  a  scent  of  night  and  flowers 
spreading  through  the  dim  place  from  the  open  win- 
dows of  the  drawing-room  beyond.  One  candle  is 
beside  her  —  and  there  are  strange  glints  of  moon- 
light here  and  there  on  the  panelling.  A  tall  figure 
enters  from  the   chapel   passage.     Augustina  makes 


IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  285 

room  on  the  settle — the  Squire  leans  back  and  listens. 
And  the  girl  at  the  piano  plays ;  the  stillness  and  the 
night  seem  to  lay  releasing  hands  upon  her;  bonds 
that  have  been  stifling  and  cramping  the  soul  break 
down ;  she  plays  with  all  her  self,  as  she  might  have 
talked  or  wept  to  a  friend  —  to  her  father.  .  .  .  And 
at  last,  in  a  pause,  the  Squire  puts  a  new  candle  be- 
side her,  and  his  deep  shy  voice  commends  her,  asks 
her  to  go  on  playing.  Afterwards,  there  is  a  pleasant 
and  gentle  talk  for  half  an  hour  —  xiugustina  can 
hardly  be  made  to  go  to  bed  —  and  when  at  last  she 
rises,  the  girl's  small  hand  slips  into  the  man's,  is  lost 
there,  feels  a  new  lingering  touch,  from  which  both 
withdraw  in  almost  equal  haste.  And  the  night,  for 
the  girl,  is  broken  with  restlessness,  with  wild  efforts 
to  draw  the  old  fetters  tight  again,  to  clamp  and 
prison  something  that  flutters  —  that  struggles. 

Then  next  morning,  there  is  an  empty  chair  at  the 
breakfast  table.  "  The  Squire  left  early  on  business." 
Without  any  warning  —  any  courteous  message  ?  One 
evening  at  home,  after  a  long  absence,  and  then  —  off 
again!  A  good  Catholic,  it  seems,  lives  in  the  train, 
and  makes  himself  the  catspaw  of  all  who  wish  to  use 
him  for  their  own  ends  ! 

...  As  to  that  old  peasant,  Scarsbrook,  what  could 
be  more  arbitrary,  more  absurd,  than  ^Mr.  Helbeck's 
behaviour?     The   matter   turns    out   to    be    serious. 


286  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Fright  blanclies  the  old  fellow's  beard  and  hair;  he 
takes  to  his  bed,  and  the  doctor  talks  of  severe  "  ner- 
vous shock "  —  very  serious,  often  deadly,  at  the  pa- 
tient's age.  Why  not  confess  everything  at  once,  set 
things  straight,  free  the  poor  shaken  mind  from  its 
oppression  ?  Who's  afraid  ?  —  what  harm  is  there  in 
an  after-dinner  stroll  ? 

But  there  !  —  truth  apparently  is  what  no  one  wants, 
what  no  one  will  have  —  least  of  all,  Mr.  Helbeck. 
She  sees  a  meeting  in  the  park,  under  the  oaks  —  the 
same  tall  man  and  the  girl  —  the  girl  bound  impetu- 
ously for  confession,  and  the  soothing  of  old  Scars- 
brook's  terrors  once  for  all  —  the  man  standing  in  the 
way,  as  tough  and  prickly  as  one  of  his  own  haw- 
thorns. Courtesy,  of  course !  there  is  no  one  can 
make  courtesy  so  galling;  and  then  such  a  shooting 
out  of  will  and  personality,  so  sudden,  so  volcanic  a 
heat  of  remonstrance !  And  a  woman  is  such  a  poor 
ill-strung  creature,  even  the  boldest  of  them !  She 
yields  when  she  should  have  pressed  forward  —  goes 
home  to  rage,  when  she  should  have  stayed  to  wrestle. 

Afterwards,  another  absence  —  the  old  house  silent 
as  the  grave  —  and  Augustina  so  fretful,  so  weari- 
some !  But  she  is  better,  much  better.  How  unscru- 
pulous are  doctors,  and  those  other  persons  who  make 
them  say  exactly  what  suits  the  moment ! 

The  dulness  seems  to  grow  with  the   June  heat. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  287 

Soon  it  becomes  intolerable.  Nobody  comes,  nobody 
speaks ;  no  mind  offers  itself  to  yours  for  confidence 
and  sympathy.  Well,  but  change  and  excitement  of 
some  sort  one  7nust  have !  —  who  is  to  blame,  if  you 
get  it  where  you  can  ? 

A  day  in  Froswick  with  Hubert  Mason?  Yes  — 
why  not  ?  Polly  proposes  it  —  has  proposed  it  once 
or  twice  before  to  no  purpose.  For  two  months  now 
the  young  man  has  been  in  training.  Polly  writes  to 
him  often;  Laura  sometimes  wonders  whether  the 
cross-examinations  through  which  Polly  puts  her  may 
not  partly  be  for  Hubert's  benefit.  She  herself  has 
written  twice  to  him  in  ansAver  to  some  half-dozen 
letters,  has  corrected  his  song  for  him  —  has  played 
altogether  a  very  moral  and  sisterly  part.  Is  the 
youth  really  in  love  ?  Perhaps.  Will  it  do  him  any 
harm  ? 

Augustina  of  course  dislikes  the  prospect  of  the 
Proswick  day.  But,  really,  Augustina  must  put  up 
with  it!  The  Eeverend  Mother  will  come  for  the 
afternoon,  and  keep  her  company.  Such  civility  of 
late  on  the  part  of  all  the  Catholic  friends  of  Bannis- 
dale  towards  Miss  Fountain! — a  civility  always  on 
the  watch,  week  by  week,  day  by  day  —  that  never 
yields  itself  for  an  instant,  has  never  a  human  im- 
pulse, an  unguarded  tone.  Father  Xeadhara  is  there 
one   day  —  he   makes  a  point  of  talking  with  Miss 


288  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

Fountain.  He  leads  the  conversation  to  Cambridge, 
to  her  father  — his  keen  glance  upon  her  all  the  time, 
the  hidden  life  of  the  convert  and  the  mystic  leaping 
every  now  and  then  to  the  surface,  and  driven  down 
again  by  a  will  that  makes  itself  felt  —  even  by  so 
cool  a  listener  —  as  a  living  tyrannous  thing,  de- 
veloped out  of  all  proportion  to,  nay  at  the  cruel 
expense  of,  the  rest  of  the  personality.  Yet  it  is  no 
will  of  the  man's  own  —  it  is  the  will  of  his  order,  of 
his  faith.  And  why  these  repeated  stray  references 
to  Bannisdale  —  to  its  owner  —  to  the  owner's  goings 
and  comings  ?  They  are  hardly  questions,  but  they 
might  easily  have  done  the  work  of  questions  had  the 
person  addressed  been  willing.  Laura  laughs  to  think 
of  it. 

Ah !  well  —  but  discretion  to-day,  discretion  to- 
morrow, discretion  always,  is  not  the  most  amusing 
of  diets.  How  dumb,  how  tame,  has  she  become! 
There  is  no  one  to  fight  with,  nothing  whereon  to  let 
loose  the  sharp-edged  words  and  sayings  that  lie  so 
close  behind  the  girl's  shut  lips.  How  amazing  that 
one  should  positively  miss  those  fuller  activities  in 
the  chapel  that  depend  on  the  Squire's  presence ! 
Father  Bowles  says  Mass  there  twice  a  week;  the 
light  still  burns  before  the  altar ;  several  times  a  day 
Augustina  disappears  within  the  heavy  doors.  But 
when  Mr.  Helbeck  is  at  home,  the  place  becomes,  as 


EEL  BECK  OF  BANNISDALE  289 

it  were,  the  strong  heart  of  the  house.  It  beats 
through  the  whole  organism ;  so  that  no  one  can 
ignore  or  forget  it. 

What  is  it  that  makes  the  difference  when  he 
returns  ?  Unwillingly,  the  mind  shapes  its  reply 
A  sense  of  unity  and  law  comes  back  into  the  house 
—  a  hidden  dignity  and  poetry.  The  Squire's  black 
head  carries  with  it  stern  reminders,  reminders  that 
challenge  or  provoke ;  but  "  he  nothing  common  does 
nor  mean,"  and  smaller  mortals,  as  the  weeks  go  by, 
begin  to  feel  their  hot  angers  and  criticisms  driven 
back  upon  themselves,  to  realise  the  strange  persist- 
ency and  force  of  the  religious  life. 

Inhuman  force !  But  force  of  any  kind  tends  to 
draw,  to  conquer.  More  than  once  Laura  sees  herself 
at  night,  almost  on  the  steps  of  the  chapel,  in  the 
dark  shadows  of  the  passage  —  following  Augustina. 
But  she  has  never  yet  mounted  the  steps  —  never 
passed  the  door.  Once  or  twice  she  has  angrily 
snatched  herself  from  listening  to  the  distant  voice. 

.  .  .  Mr.  Helbeck  makes  very  little  comment  on  the 
Froswick  plan.  One  swift  involuntary  look  at  break- 
fast, as  who  might  say  —  "  Our  compact  ?  "  But  there 
was  no  compact.     And  go  she  will. 

And  at  last  all  opposition  clears  away.  It  must  be 
Mr.  Helbeck  who  has  silenced  Augustina — for  even 
she   complains   no   more.      Trains    are   looked    out; 

VOL.  I.  —  u 


290  UELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

arrangements  are  made  to  fetch  Polly  from  a  half-way 
village;  a  fly  is  ordered  to  meet  the  9.10  train  at 
night.  Why  does  one  feel  a  culprit  all  through  ? 
Absurdity !  Is  one  to  be  mewed  up  all  one's  life,  to 
throw  over  all  fun  and  frolic  at  Mr.  Helbeck's  bidding 
—  Mr.  Helbeck,  who  now  scarcely  sets  foot  in  Bannis- 
dale,  who  seems  to  have  turned  his  back  upon  his 
own  house,  since  that  precise  moment  when  his  sister 
and  her  stej)daughter  came  to  inhabit  it  ?  Never  till 
this  year  was  he  restless  in  this  way  —  so  says  Mrs. 
Denton,  whose  temper  grows  shorter  and  shorter. 

Oh  —  as  to  fun  and  frolic!  The  girl  yawns  as 
she  looks  out  of  window.  What  a  long  hot  day 
it  is  going  to  be  —  and  how  foolish  are  all  expe- 
ditions, all  formal  pleasures!  9.10  at  Marsland  — 
about  seven,  she  supposes,  at  Froswick  ?  Already 
her  thoughts  are  busy,  hungrily  busy  with  the 
evening,  and  the  return. 

•  •  «  •  •  ft 

The  train  sped  along.  They  passed  a  litle  water- 
ing-place under  the  steep  wooded  hills  —  a  furnace 
of  sun  on  this  hot  June  day,  in  winter  a  soft  and 
sheltered  refuge  from  the  north.  Further  on  rose 
the  ruins  of  a  great  Cistercian  abbey,  great  ribs 
and  arches  of  red  sandstone,  that  still,  in  ndn, 
made  the  soul  and  beauty  of  a  quiet  valley;  then 
a    few  busy    towns   with    mills    and    factories,   the 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  291 

fringe  of  that  industrial  district  which  lies  on  the 
southern  and  western  border  of  the  Lake  Country; 
more  Avide  valleys  sweeping  back  into  blue  moun- 
tains ;  a  wealth  of  June  leaf  and  blossoming  tree ; 
and  at  last  docks  and  buildings,  warehouses  and 
"  works,"  a  network  of  spreading  railway  lines,  and 
all  the  other  signs  of  an  important  and  growing 
town.  The  train  stopped  amid  a  crowd,  and  Polly 
hurried  to  the  door. 

"  Why,  Hubert !  —  Mr.  Seaton !  —  Here  we  are  ! " 

She  beckonei  wildly,  and  not  a  few  passers-by 
turned  to  look  at  the  nodding  clouds  of  tulle. 

"We  shall  find  them,  Polly  —  don't  shout,"  said 
Laura  behind  her,  in  some  disgust. 

Shout  and  beckon,  however,  Polly  did  and  would, 
till  the  tw^o  young  men  were  finally  secured. 

"  Why,  Hubert,  you  never  tow^l  me  what  a  big 
place  'twas,"  said  Polly  joyously.  "Lor,  Mr.  Seaton, 
doan't  fash  yoursel.  This  is  Miss  Fountain  —  my 
cousin.     You'll  remember  her,  I  knaw." 

Mr.  Seaton  began  a  polite  and  stilted  speech 
while  possessing  himself  of  Polly's  shawl  and  bag. 
He  was  a  very  superior  young  man  of  the  clerk 
or  foreman  type,  somewhat  ill  i)ut  together  at  the 
waist,  with  a  flat  back  to  his  head,  and  a  cadaver- 
ous countenance.  Laura  gave  him  a  rapid  look. 
But   her   chief   curiosity   was    for   Hubert.      And   at 


292  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

her   first   glance   she    saw   the   signs   of   that   strong 
and  silent  process  perpetually  going  on  amongst  us 
that  tames  the  countryman   to   the   life   and.    habits 
of  the  toAvn.     It  was  only  a  couple  of  months  since 
the  young  athlete  from  the  fells  had   been   brought 
within  its  sway,  and  already  the  marks  of  it  were 
evident  in  dress,   speech,  and  manner.     The  dialect 
was  almost  gone ;  the  black  Sunday  coat  was  of  the 
most  fashionable  cut  that   Froswick  could  provide; 
and    as    they   walked    along,   Laura    detected    more 
than   once  in  the  downcast  eyes  of  her  companion, 
a  stealthy  anxiety  as  to  the  knees  of  his  new  grey 
trousers.     So  far  the  change  was  not  an  embellish- 
ment.    The  first  loss  of  freedom  and  rough  strength 
is  never  that.     But  it  roused  the  girl's  notice,  and 
a   sort   of   secret   sympathy.     She   too   had   felt   the 
curb  of  an  alien  life  !  —  she  could  almost  have  held 
out  her  hand  to  him  as  to  a  comrade  in  captivity. 

Outside  the  station,  to  Laura's  surprise  —  consider- 
ing the  object  of  the  expedition  —  Hubert  made  a 
sign  to  his  sister,  and  they  two  dropped  behind 
a  little. 

"What's  the  matter  with  her?"  said  Hubert 
abruptly,  as  soon  as  he  judged  that  they  were  out 
of  hearing  of  the  couple  in  front. 

"Who  do  you  mean?  Laura?  Why,  she's  well 
enoof ! " 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  293 

"Then  she  don't  look  it.  She's  fretting.  What's 
wrong  with  her  ?  " 

As  Hubert  looked  down  upon  his  sister,  Polly  was 
startled  by  the  impatient  annoyance  of  look  and 
manner.  And  how  red-rimmed  and  weary  were  the 
lad's  eyes!  You  might  have  thought  he  had  not 
slept  for  a  week.  Polly's  mind  ran  through  a  series 
of  conjectures ;  and  she  broke  out  with  Westmoreland 
plainness  — 

"  Hubert,  I  do  wish  tha  wouldn't  be  sich  a  fool ! 
I've  towd  tha  so  times  and  times." 

"  Aye,  and  you  may  tell  me  so  till  kingdom  come  — 
I  shan't  mind  you,"  he  said  doggedly.  "  There's 
something  between  her  and  the  Squire,  I  know  there 
is.     I  know  it  by  the  look  of  her." 

Polly  laughed. 

"  How  you  jump !  I  tell  tha  she  never  says  a  word 
aboot  him." 

Hubert  looked  moodily  at  Laura's  little  figure  in 
front. 

"  All  the  more  reason ! "  he  said  between  his  teeth. 
"  She'd  talk  about  him  when  she  first  came.  But  I'll 
find  out —  never  fear." 

"  For  goodness'  sake,  Hubert,  let  her  be ! "  said 
Polly,  entreating.  "  Sich  wild  stuff  as  thoo's  been 
writin  me  !  Yan  might  ha  thowt  yo'd  bo  fer  cuttin 
yor  throat,  if  yo'  didn't  get  her  doon  here.  —  What  art 


294  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

tha  think  in  of,  lad  ?     She'll  never  marry  tha  !     She 
doan't  belong  to  us  —  and  there's  noa  undoin  it." 

Hubert  made  no  reply,  but  unconsciously  his 
muscular  frame  took  a  passionate  rigidity ;  his  face 
became  set  and  obstinate. 

"  Well,  you  keep  watch,"  he  said.  "  You'll  see  — 
I'll  make  it  worth  your  while." 

Polly  looked  up  —  half  laughing.  She  understood 
his  reference  to  herself  and  her  new  sweetheart. 
Hubert  would  play  her  game  if  she  would  play  his. 
Well  —  she  had  no  objection  whatever  to  help  him  to 
the  sight  of  Laura  when  she  could.  Polly's  moral 
sense  was  not  over-delicate,  and  as  to  the  upshot  and 
issues  of  things,  her  imagination  moved  but  slowly. 
She  did  not  like  to  let  herself  think  of  what  might 
have  been  Hubert's  relations  to  women  —  to  one  or 
two  wild  girls  about  Whinthorpe  for  instance.  But 
Laura  —  Laura  who  was  so  much  their  social  better, 
whose  manners  and  self-possession  awed  them  both, 
what  smallest  harm  could  ever  come  to  her  from  any 
act  or  word  of  Hubert's  ?  For  this  rustic  Westmore- 
land girl,  Laura  Fountain  stood  on  a  pedestal  robed 
and  sceptred  like  a  little  queen.  Hubert  was  a  fool 
to  fret  himself  —  a  fool  to  go  courting  some  one  too 
high  for  him.  What  else  was  there  to  say  or  think 
about  it  ? 

At  the  next  street  corner  Laura  made  a  resolute 


RELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  295 

stop.  Polly  should  not  any  longer  be  defrauded  of 
her  Mr.  Seaton.  Besides  she,  Laura,  wished  to  talk 
to  Hubert.  Mr.  Seaton's  long  words,  and  way  of 
niouthing  his  highly  correct  phrases,  had  already 
seemed  to  take  the  savour  out  of  the  morning. 

When  the  exchange  was  made  —  Mr.  Seaton  alas ! 
showing  less  eagerness  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected—  Laura  quietly  examined  her  companion.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  he  was  taller  than  ever;  surely 
she  was  not  much  higher  than  his  elboAv !  Hubert, 
conscious  that  he  was  being  scrutinised,  turned  red, 
looked  away,  coughed;  and  apparently  could  find 
nothing  to  say. 

"  Well  —  how  are  you  getting  on  ?  "  said  the  light 
voice,  sending  its  vibration  through  all  the  man's 
strong  frame. 

"I  suppose  I'm  getting  on  all  right,"  he  said, 
switching  at  the  railings  beside  the  road  with  his 
stick. 

"  What  sort  of  work  do  you  do  ?  " 

He  gave  her  a  stumbling  account,  from  which  she 
gathered  that  he  was  for  the  time  being  the  factotum 
of  an  office,  sent  on  everybody's  errands,  and  made 
responsible  for  everybody's  shortcomings. 

She  threw  him  a  glance  of  pity.  This  young  Her- 
cules, with  his  open-air  traditions,  and  his  athlete's 
triumphs  behind  him,  turned  into  the  butt  and  under- 
ling of  half  a  dozen  clerks  in  a  stuffy  office  ! 


-296  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

"  I  don't  mind,"  lie  said  hastily.  "  All  the  others 
j^aid  for  their  places ;  I  didn't  pay  for  mine.  I'll  be 
even  with  them  all  some  day.  It  was  the  chance  I 
wanted,  and  my  uncle  gives  me  a  lift  now  and  then. 
It  was  to  please  him  they  gave  me  the  berth;  he's 
worth  thousands  and  thousands  a  year  to  them!" 

And  he  launched  into  a  boasting  account  of  the 
importance  and  abilities  of  his  uncle,  Daniel  Mason, 
who  was  now  managing  director  of  the  great  ship- 
building yard  into  which  Hubert  had  been  taken,  as  a 
favour  to  his  kinsman. 

"He  began  at  the  bottom,  same  as  me  —  only  he 
was  younger  than  me,"  said  Hubert,  "  so  he  had  the 
pull.  But  you'll  see,  I'll  work  up.  I've  learnt  a  lot 
since  I've  been  here.  The  classes  at  the  Institute  — 
well,  they're  fine !  " 

Laura  showed  an  astonished  glance.  New  sides  of 
the  lad  seemed  to  be  revealing  themselves. 

She  inquired  after  his  music.  But  he  declared  he 
was  too  busy  to  think  of  it.  By-and-by  in  the  winter 
he  would  have  lessons.  There  was  a  violin  class  at 
the  Institute  — perhaps  he'd  join  that.  Then  abrujjtly, 
staring  down  upon  her  with  his  wide  blue  eyes  — 

"And  how  have  you  been  getting  on  with  the 
Squire  ?  " 

He  thought  she  started,  but  couldn't  be  quite  sure. 

"Getting  on  with  the  Squire?  Why,  capitally! 
Whenever  he's  there  to  get  on  with." 


HELBECK  OF  BANj^ISDALE  297 

"  What  —  lie's  been  away  ?  "  he  said  eagerly. 

She  raised  her  shoulders. 

"  He's  always  away " 

"  AMiy,  I  thought  they'd  have  made  a  Papist  of  you 
by  now,"  he  said. 

His  laugh  was  rough,  but  his  eyes  held  her  with  a 
curious  insistence. 

"  Think  something  more  reasonable,  please,  next 
time!     Now,  where  are  we  going -to  lunch?" 

"  We've  got  it  all  ready.  But  we  must  see  the  yard 
first.  .  .  .  Miss  Fountain  —  Laura  —  I've  got  that 
flower  you  gave  me." 

His  voice  was  suddenly  hoarse. 

She  glanced  at  him,  lifting  her  eyebrows. 

"  Very  foolish  of  you,  I'm  sure.  .  .  .  Now  do  tell 
me,  how  did  you  get  off  so  early  ?  " 

He  sulkily  explained  to  her  that  work  was  unusually 
slack  in  his  own  yard ;  that,  moreover,  he  had  worked 
special  overtime  during  the  week  in  order  to  get  an 
hour  or  two  off  this  Saturday,  and  that  Seaton  was  on 
night  duty  at  a  large  engineering  "  works,"  and  lord 
therefore  of  his  days.  But  she  paid  small  attention. 
She  was  occupied  in  looking  at  the  new  buildings 
and  streets,  the  brand  new  squares  and  statues  of 
Froswick. 

"  How  can  people  build  and  live  in  such  ugly 
places  ? "   she    said   at   last,  standing   still   that   she 


298  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

might  stare  aboiit  her  —  "  when  there  are  such  lovely 
things  in  the  world ;  Cambridge,  for  instance  —  or  — 
Bannisdale." 

The  last  word  slipped  out,  dreamily,  unaware. 

The  lad's  face  flushed  furiously. 

"I  don't  know  what  there  is  to  see  in  Bannisdale," 
he  said  hotly.  '•  It's  a  damp,  dark,  beastly  hole  of  a 
place." 

"  I  prefer  Bannisdale  to  this,  thank  you,"  said 
Laura,  making  a  little  face  at  the  very  ample  bronze 
gentleman  in  a  frock  coat  who  was  standing  in  the 
centre  of  a  great  new-built  empty  square,  haranguing 
a  phantom  crowd.  "  Oh !  how  ugly  it  is  to  succeed  — 
to  have  money ! " 

Mason  looked  at  her  with  a  half-puzzled  frown  —  a 
frown  that  of  late  had  begun  to  tease  his  handsome 
forehead  habitually. 

"  What's  the  harm  of  having  a  bit  of  brass  ?  "  he 
said  angrily.  "  And  what's  the  beauty  o'  livin  in  an 
old  ramshackle  place,  without  a  sixpence  in  your  pocket, 
and  a  pride  fit  to  bring  you  to  the  workhouse !  " 

Laura's  little  mouth  showed  amusement,  an  amuse- 
ment that  stung.  She  lifted  a  little  fan  that  hung  at 
her  girdle. 

"  Is  there  any  shade  in  Froswick  ?  "  she  said,  look- 
ing round  her. 

M'lson  was  silenced,  and  as  Polly  and  Mr.  Seaton 


HELBECE  OF  BANNISDALE  299 

joined  them,  he  recovered  his  temper  with  a  mighty 
effort  and  once  more  set  himself  to  do  the  honours  — 
the  slighted  honours  —  of  his  new  home. 

.  .  .  But  oh!  the  heat  of  the  ship-building  yard. 
Laura  was  already  tired  and  faint,  and  could  hardly 
drag  her  feet  up  and  down  the  sides  of  the  great  skele- 
ton ships  that  lay  building  in  the  docks,  or  through 
the  interminable  "fitting"  sheds  with  their  piles  of 
mahogany  and  teak,  their  whirring  lathes  and  saws, 
their  heaps  of  shavings,  their  resinous  wood  smell. 
And  yet  the  managing  director  appeared  in  person 
for  twenty  minutes,  a  thin,  small,  hawk-eyed  man,  not 
at  all  unwilling  to  give  a  brief  patronage  to  the  young 
lady  who  might  be  said  to  link  the  houses  of  Mason 
and  Helbeck  in  a  flattering  equality. 

"  He  wad  never  ha  doon  it  for  us  ! "  Polly  whispered 
in  her  awe  to  Miss  Fountain.    "  It's  you  he's  affther ! " 

Laura,  however,  was  not  grateful.  She  took  her  in- 
dustrial lesson  ill,  with  much  haste  and  inattention,  so 
that  once  when  the  director  and  his  nephew  fell  be- 
hind, the  great  man,  whose  speech  to  his  kinsman  in 
private  was  often  little  less  broad  than  Mrs.  Mason's 
own  —  said  scornfully : 

"  An  I  doan't  think  much  o'  your  fine  cousin,  men  ! 
she's  nobbut  a  flighty  miss." 

The  young  man  said  nothing.  He  was  still  slav- 
ishly ill  at  ease  with  his  uncle,  on  whose  benevolence 
all  his  future  depended, 


300  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

''Is  there  soiuetliiiig  more  to  see?"  said  Laiiri 
languidly. 

"  Only  the  steel  works,"  said  Mr.  Seaton,  with  a 
patronising  smile.  "You  young  ladies,  I  presume, 
would  hardly  wish  to  go  away  without  seeing  our 
chief  establishment.  Froswick  Steel  and  Hematite 
Works  employ  three  thousand  workmen." 

''Do  they?  — and  does  it  matter?"  said  Laura, 
playing  with  the  salt. 

She  wore  a  little  plaintive,  tired  air,  which  suited 
her  soft  paleness,  and  made  her  extraordinarily  engag- 
ing in  the  eyes  of  both  the  young  men.  Mason 
watched  her  perpetually,  anticipating  her  slightest 
movement,  waiting  on  her  least  want.  And  Mr. 
Seaton,  usually  so  certain  of  his  own  emotions  and  so 
wholly  in  command  of  them,  began  to  feel  himself 
confused.  It  was  with  a  distinct  slackening  of  ardour 
that  he  looked  from  Miss  Fountain  to  Polly  —  his 
Polly,  as  he  had  almost  come  to  think  of  her,  honest 
managing  Polly,  who  would  have  a  bit  of  "brass," 
and  was  in  all  respects  a  tidy  and  suitable  wife  for 
such  a  man  as  he.  But  why  had  she  wrapped  all  that 
silly  white  stuff  round  her  head?  And  her  hands! 
—  Mr.  Seaton  slyly  withdrew  his  eyes  from  Polly's 
reddened  members  to  fix  them  on  the  thin  white  wrist 
that  Laura  was  holding  poised  in  air,  and  the  pretty 
fingers  twirling  the  salt  spoon. 


EELBECE  OF  BANNISBALE  301 

Polly  meantime  sat  up  very  straight,  and  was  no 
longer  talkative.  Lunch  had  not  improved  her  com- 
plexion, as  the  mirror  hanging  opposite  showed  her. 
Every  now  and  then  she  too  threw  little  restless 
glances  across  at  Laura. 

"Why,  we  needn't  go  to  the  works  at  all  if  we 
don't  like,"  said  Polly.  "  Can't  we  get  a  fly,  Hubert, 
and  take  a  jaunt  soomwhere  ?  " 

Hubert  bent  forward  with  alacrity.  Of  course 
they  could.  If  they  went  four  miles  up  the  river 
or  so,  they  would  come  to  real  nice  country  and  a 
farmhouse  where  they  could  have  tea. 

"  Well,  I'm  game,"  said  Mr.  Seaton,  magnani- 
mously slapping  his  pocket.  "  Anything  to  please 
these  ladies." 

"  I  don't  know  about  that  seven  o'clock  train," 
said  Mason  doubtfully. 

"Well,  if   we  can't  get  that,  there's  a  later  one." 

«:N"o,  that's  the  last." 

"  You  may  trust  me,"  said  Seaton  pompously.  "  I 
know  my  way  about  a  railway  guide.  There's  one 
a  little  after  eight." 

Hubert  shook  his  head.  He  thought  Seaton  was 
mistaken.     But  Laura  settled  the  matter. 

"Thank  you  —  we'll  not  miss  our  train,"  she  said, 
rising  to  put  her  hat  straight  before  the  glass  —  "  so 
it's  the  works,  please.  What  is  it  —  furnaces  and 
red-hot  things  ?  " 


302  IIELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

In  another  minute  or  two  tliey  were  in  the  street 
again.  Mr.  Seaton  settled  the  bill  with  a  mag- 
nificent "Damn  the  expense"  air,  which  annoyed 
Mason  —  who  was  of  course  a  partner  in  all  the 
charges  of  the  day  —  and  made  Laura  bite  her  lip. 
Outside  he  showed  a  strong  desire  to  walk  with 
Miss  Fountain  that  he  might  instruct  her  in  the 
details  of  the  Bessemer  process  and  the  manufacture 
of  steel  rails.  But  the  ease  with  which  the  little 
nonchalant  creature  disposed  of  him,  the  rapidity 
with  which  he  found  himself  transferred  to  Polly, 
and  left  to  stare  at  the  backs  of  Laura  and  Hubert 
hurrying  along  in  front,  amazed  him. 

"  Isn't  she  nice  looking  ?  "  said  poor  Polly,  as  she 
too  stared  helplessly  at  the  distant  pair. 

Her  shawl  weighed  upon  her  arm,  Mr.  Seaton  had 
forgotten  to  ask  for  it.  But  there  was  a  little  sudden 
balm  in  the  irritable  vexation  of  his  reply  : 

"  Some  people  may  be  of  that  opinion.  Miss 
Mason.  I  own  I  prefer  a  greater  degree  of  balance 
in  the  fair  sex." 

"  Oil !    does  he  mean  me  ?  "  thought  Polly. 

And  her  spirits  revived  a  little. 

Meanwhile,  as  Laura  and  Hubert  walked  along  to 
the  desolate  road  that  led  to  the  great  steel  works, 
Hubert  knew  a  kind  of  jealous  and  tormented  bliss. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  303 

She  was  there,  fluttering  beside  him,  her  delicate 
face  often  turned  to  him,  her  feet  keeping  step 
with  his.  And  at  the  same  time  what  strong  in- 
tangible barriers  between  them !  She  had  put  away 
her  mocking  tone  —  was  clearly  determined  to  be 
kind  and  cousinly.  Yet  every  word  only  set  the 
tides  of  love  and  misery  swelling  more  strongly  in 
the  lad's  breast.  "  She  doan't  belong  to  us,  an  there's 
noa  undoin  it."  Polly's  phrase  haunted  his  ear. 
Yet  he  dared  ask  her  no  more  questions  about  Hel- 
beck;  small  and  frail  as  she  was,  she  could  wrap 
herself  in  an  unapproachable  dignity ;  nobody  had 
ever  yet  solved  the  mystery  of  Laura's  inmost  feel- 
ing against  her  will ;  and  Hubert  knew  despairingly 
that  his  clumsy  methods  had  small  chance  with  her. 
But  he  felt  with  a  kind  of  rage  that  there  were 
signs  of  suffering  about  her ;  he  divined  something 
to  know,  at  the  same  time  that  he  realised  with  all 
plainness  it  was  not  for  his  knowing.  Ah !  that 
man  —  that  ugly  starched  hypocrite  —  after  all  had 
he  got  hold  of  her  ?  A^Tio  could  live  near  her 
without  feeling  this  pain  —  this  pang  ?  .  .  .  Was 
she  to  be  surrendered  to  him  without  a  struggle  — 
to  that  canting,  droning  fellow,  with  his  jail  of  a 
house  ?  Why,  he  would  crush  the  life  out  of  her  in 
six  months! 

There   was  a  rush  and  whirl  in  the   lad's   senses. 


304  HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE 

A  cry  of  animal  jealousy  —  of  violence — rose  in  his 
being. 

"  How  wonderful !  —  how  enchanting  I  "  cried  Laura, 
her  glance  sparkling,  her  whole  frame  quivering  with 
pleasure. 

They  had  just  entered  the  great  main  shed  of  the 
steel  works.  The  foreman,  who  had  been  induced  by 
the  young  men  to  take  them  through,  was  in  the  act 
of  placing  Lanra  in  the  shelter  of  a  brick  screen,  so  as 
to  protect  her  from  a  glowing  shower  of  sparks  that 
wonld  otherwise  have  swept  over  her;  and  the  girl 
had  thrown  a  few  startled  looks  around  her. 

A  vast  shed,  much  of  it  in  darkness,  and  crowded 
with  dim  forms  of  iron  and  brick  —  at  one  end,  and 
one  side,  openings,  where  the  June  day  came  through. 
Within  —  a  grandiose  mingling  of  fire  and  shadow  — 
a  vast  glare  of  white  or  bluish  flame  from  a  huge  fur- 
nace roaring  against  the  inner  wall  of  the  shed  — 
sparks,  like  star  showers,  whirling  through  dark  spaces 
—  ingots  of  glowing  steel,  pillars  of  pure  fire  passing 
and  repassing,  so  that  the  heat  of  them  scorched  the 
girl's  shrinking  cheek  —  and  everywhere,  dark  against 
flame,  the  human  movement  answering  to  the  ele- 
mental leap  and  rush  of  the  tire,  black  forms  of  men 
in  a  constant  activity,  masters  and  ministers  at  once 
of  this  crackling  terror  round  about  them. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  305 

"  Aye  !  "  said  their  guide,  answering  the  girl's  ques- 
tions as  well  as  he  could  in  the  roar  —  '-'that's  the 
great  furnace  where  they  boil  the  steel.  Now  you 
watch  —  when  the  flame — look!  it's  Avhite  now  — 
turns  blue  —  that  means  the  process  is  done  —  the 
steel's  cooked.  Then  they'll  bring  the  vat  beneath  — 
turn  the  furnace  over  —  you'll  see  the  steel  pour 
out." 

''  Is  that  a  railway  ?  " 

She  pointed  to  a  raised  platform  in  front  of  the 
furnace.  A  truck  bearing  a  high  metal  tub  w^as  run- 
ning along  it. 

"Yes  —  it's  from  there  they  feed  the  furnace  —  in 
a  minute  you'll  see  the  tub  tip  over." 

There  was  a  signal  bell  —  a  rattle  of  machinery. 
The  tub  tilted  —  a  great  jet  of  white  flame  shot  up- 
wards from  the  furnace —  the  great  mouth  had  swal- 
lowed down  its  prey. 

"  And  those  men  with  their  wheelbarrows  ?  Why 
do  they  let  them  go  so  close  ?  " 

She  shuddered  and  put  her  hand  over  her  eyes. 

The  foreman  laughed. 

"  Why,  it's  quite  safe  !  — the  tub's  moved  out  of  the 
way.  You  see  the  furnace  has  to  be  fed  with  dif- 
ferent stuffs  — -the  tub  brings  one  sort  and  the  barrows 
another.  Now  look — they're  going  to  turn  it  over. 
Stand  back ! " 

VOL.    I.  X 


306  HELBECK  OF  BANNISBALE 

He  held  up  his  hand  to  bid  Mason  come  under 
shelter. 

Laura  looked  round  her. 

"  Where  are  the  other  two  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Oh !  they've  gone  to  see  the  bar-testing  —  they'll 
be  here  soon.  Seaton  knows  the  man  in  charge  of 
the  testing  workshop." 

Laura  ceased  to  think  of  them.  She  was  a.bsorbed 
in  the  act  before  her.  The  great  lip  of  the  furnace 
began  to  swing  downwards ;  fresh  showers  of  sparks 
fled  in  wild  curves  and  spirals  through  the  shed ;  out 
flowed  the  stream  of  liquid  steel  into  the  vat  placed 
beneath.  Then  slowly  the  fire  cup  righted  itself;  the 
flame  roared  once  more  against  the  wall ;  the  swarm- 
ing figures  to  either  side  began  once  more  to  feed  the 
monster  —  men  and  trucks  and  wheelbarrow,  the 
little  railway  line,  and  the  iron  pillars  supporting  it, 
all  black  against  the  glare 

Laura  stood  breathless  —  her  wild  nature  rapt  by 
what  she  saw.  But  while  she  hung  on  the  spectacle 
before  her.  Mason  never  spared  it  a  glance.  He  was 
conscious  of  scarcely  anything  but  her  —  her  childish 
form,  in  the  little  clinging  dress,  her  white  face,  every 
soft  feature  clear  in  the  glow,  her  dancing  eyes,  her 
cloud  of  reddish  hair,  from  which  her  wide  black  hat 
had  slipped  away  in  the  excitement  of  her  upward 
gaze.  The  lad  took  the  image  into  his  heart  —  it 
burnt  there  as  tliou;4-h  it  too  were  fire. 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  307 

"  Now  let's  look  at  something  else  ! "  said  Laura  at 
last,  turning  away  with  a  long  breath. 

And  they  took  her  to  see  the  vat  that  had  been 
filled  from  the  furnace,  pouring  itself  into  the  ingot 
moulds  —  then  the  four  moulds  travelling  slowly  on- 
wards till  they  paused  under  a  sort  of  iron  hand  that 
descended  and  lifted  them  majestically  from  the  white- 
hot  steel  beneath,  uncovering  the  four  fiery  pillars 
that  reddened  to  a  blood  colour  as  they  moved  across 
the  shed  —  till,  on  the  other  side,  one  ingot  after 
another  was  lowered  from  the  truck,  and  no  sooner 
felt  the  ground  than  it  became  the  prey  of  some  un- 
seen force,  which  drove  it  swiftly  onwards  from 
beneath,  to  where  it  leapt  with  a  hiss  and  crunch  into 
the  jaws  of  the  mill.  Then  out  again  on  the  further 
side,  lengthened,  and  pared,  the  demon  in  it  already 
half  tamed!  —  flying  as  it  were  from  the  first  mill, 
only  to  be  caught  again  in  the  squeeze  of  the  second, 
and  the  third  —  until  at  last  the  quivering  rail 
emerged  at  the  further  end,  a  twisting  fire  serpent, 
still  soft  under  the  controlling  rods  of  the  workmen. 
On  it  glided,  on,  and  out  of  the  shed,  into  the  open 
air,  till  it  reached  a  sort  of  platform  over  a  pit,  where 
iron  claws  caught  at  it  from  beneath,  and  brought  it 
to  a  final  rest,  in  its  own  place,  beside  its  innumera- 
ble fellows,  waiting  for  the  market  and  its  buyers. 

"  Mayn't  we  go  back  once  more  to  the  furnace  ? " 


308  HELBECK   OF  BANNISDALE 

said  Miss  Fountain  eagerly  to  her  guide  —  "just  for  a 
minute ! " 

He  smiled  at  lier,  unable  to  say  no. 

And  they  walked  back  across  the  shed,  to  the  brick 
shelter.  The  great  furnace  was  roaring  as  before,  the 
white  sheet  of  flame  was  nearing  its  last  change  of 
colour,  tub  after  tub,  barrow  after  barrow  poured  its 
contents  into  the  vast  flaring  throat.  Behind  the 
shelter  was  an  elderly  woman  with  a  shawl  over  her 
head.  She  had  brought  a  jar  of  tea  for  some  work- 
men, and  was  standing  like  any  stranger,  watching 
the  furnace  and  hiding  from  the  sparks. 

Now  there  is  only  one  man  more  —  and  after  that, 
one  more  tub  to  be  lowered  —  and  the  hell-broth  is 
cooked  once  again,  and  will  come  streaming  forth. 

The  man  advances  with  his  barrow.  Laura  sees  his 
blackened  face  in  the  intolerable  light,  as  he  turns  to 
give  a  signal  to  those  behind  him.  An  electric  bell 
rings. 

Then 


What  was  that  ? 

God !  — what  was  that  ? 

A  hideous  cry  rang  through  the  works.  Laura 
drew  her  hand  in  bewilderment  across  her  eyes.  The 
foreman  beside  her  shouted  and  ran  forward. 

"  Where's  the  man  ?  "  she  said  helplessly  to  Mason. 

But  Mason  made  no  answer.     He  was  clinging  to 


HELBECK  OF  BANNISDALE  309 

the  brick  wall,  his  eyes  staring  out  of  his  head.  A 
great  clamour  rose  from  the  little  railway  —  from 
beneath  it  —  from  all  sides  of  it.  The  shed  began  to 
swarm  with  running  men,  all  hurrying  towards  the 
furnace.  The  air  was  full  of  their  cries.  It  was  like 
the  loosing  of  a  maddened  hive. 

Laura  tottered,  fell  back  against  the  wall.  The 
old  woman  who  had  come  to  bring  the  tea  rushed 
up  to  her. 

"  Oh,  Lord,  save  us  !  —  Lord,  save  us ! "  she  cried, 
with  a  wail  to  rend  the  heart. 

And  the  two  women  fell  into  each  other's  arms, 
shuddering,  with  wild  broken  words,  which  neither 
of  them  heard  or  knew. 


END    OF   VOL.    I 


i^r 


